A Faster Way
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: A reworking of HYPERSPACE: A GREAT DISCOVERY, but with different plot twists. Sorry i deleted it. But i hope you love this one.
1. Chapter 1

**I accidentally deleted the earlier HYPERSPACE: A GREAT DISCOVERY story because I found it full of faults and errors. So, I've decided to rewrite it, adding bits on. I'm sorry if you loved my earlier story, but I hope you love this one. **

**A Faster Way…..**

Captain's log;

We've been travelling in space for the past month using the map Q gave us in thanks of looking after " junior ", if we'd expected to find a transwarp hub, a wormhole or a spatial rift, then we're in for a disappointment. Hopefully we find a way home, otherwise me and my current crew are going to get old and grey. But, unfortunately, we've recently suffered severe damage by passing through an unusual spatial anomaly. Engines are badly damaged, meaning we cannot exceed warp 6.

The Bridge was in shambles, the plasma damage giving the bridge a sinister green glow, the cables and tubing hanging from the ceiling.

Captain Janeway was pacing up and down her bridge, listening to the sounds of the ship; the instruments, the hum of power, the put upon throb of the warp drive, the impatience of her crew, the amount of damage that cluttered the bridge; burnt out consoles, flickering displays, cables hanging from the ceilings.

Janeway was just making another circuit around the bridge where crewmen were trying to repair some of the battered consoles, when Tuvok received a bleep from his console,

" Captain, I'm picking up an unidentified ship directly ahead. It seems to be adrift."

Janeway snapped out of her trance, " On screen."

The view screen changed at once, flickering as it did, showing a massive ship. It was larger than Voyager, it was shaped like a lenticular disc, the top had a hump with a gentle slope.

" Whoa," Harry gasped, " That ship, whatever it is, is at least 12 times the size of the saucer section of a Galaxy class starship. I can't get any scan of the interior."

" Confirmed," Tuvok announced, his Vulcan calm expressing nothing, but Janeway had known and served with him long enough to know that the Vulcan security officer was far from happy.

Seven of Nine's voice filtered through over the comm, " Captain, I've been checking that ship with the sensors, it has a strange but efficient sublight engine system. It seems to have a mixture of impulse engines, gravimetric thrusters and ion systems. But there is what looks like a downgraded subspace field generator. It's built into the hull. I believe that ship warps subspace the same way we do, but for a different reason. Judging from my analysis of the field generators, this ship cannot reach warp speeds but it can travel faster than we can."

Janeway frowned, " Then how can that ship travel ? Sublight engines can barely reach another inhabited system."

" Maybe it has a different propulsion mechanism." Harry suggested, excitement colouring his tone.

Chakotay read the excitement in his voice, " Lets not get excited, " he sent a look at Harry, then he turned his attention back to the ship. Tom was studying it when he said out loud, " It looks like a flying saucer."

" Flying saucer ?" Tuvok asked, puzzled. Not that anyone could probably blame him for his bemusement. No one had heard of flying saucers. But the description sounded apt enough.

" During the 20th century onwards, the Earth was supposedly visited by ships from other worlds. Reports showed that those ships were shaped like discs. Saucers. I've always wondered if the saucer section design of our starships was inspired by the myths."

Janeway walked down to the helm station where she could get a better look, " Doesn't look much like a myth to me."

Tom shrugged, " Back then there was rampant paranoia and all other things, we didn't know if aliens were friendly or not. Some reports showed dissections and all manner of unusual medical operations."

" What for ?"

" Research." Paris said, but his tone suggested he himself didn't know. Chakotay walked forward, " Alright, I think that's enough for speculation."

" Agreed," Janeway said, " Tuvok, do you think we can beam inside that ship ?"

Tuvok checked his console, " Inspite of the damage this ship's already suffered, I believe we can. We can transport someone on board that ship and bring them back again. Targeting scanners can penetrate the hull, but I cannot predict where the away team materialise."

The away team materialised onboard the saucer shaped vessel. Because they didn't know the exact environment conditions onboard, the crew were wearing EV suits. B'elanna Torres, Chakotay, Tuvok, Seven, and three other officers, transported on the mysterious alien ship.

The place they materialised in, just so happened to be the bridge area of the ship. Chakotay looked around the space. It was circular, with a high ceiling. Instead of a central forward facing view screen, the bridge was surrounded by some form of silvery grey material which seemed to border the whole room. The consoles themselves were tiny spaces compared to what you found on Starfleet ships.

There was a central section with a chair with a console in front of it. A captain's chair ? Chakotay looked around the bridge.

" I can just scan these consoles," B'elanna reported holding out her tricorder, " This console is the science station," she said, gesturing at one of the consoles, " That console near Seven is the helm and navigation station."

Seven was just standing in front of Chakotay, " The people who built this ship clearly had the same idea as we do, that the captain wishes to keep the helm station in view."

" That's a norm among various races, Seven."

Torres was just scanning a console when she said, " I've found the engineering station." she pulled the chair out and sat down. " Right," she said after touching a few controls, " I've reactivated the life support system, restored artificial gravity. I've brought it to our own levels."

B'elanna paused, " Chakotay, come and take a look at this."

Chakotay walked over, " What's wrong ?"

" Look at this display, do you notice something strange ?" B'elanna pointed. At first the commander didn't realise what was the matter, but then he saw it.

The writing. It was familiar. It was in English standard.

English ?

" What does this mean ?" the chief engineer whispered.

" I dunno." Chakotay murmured.

" English basic ?" Janeway repeated as the away teams report filtered through.

" Yes, B'elanna's going over the whole system. The entire thing is comprehensible which is making the team happy."

" Have you found any indications of who built the ship ?" Janeway asked.

Chakotay shook his head, " No, so far we know that whoever did build this ship was humanoid. We've found chairs and tables. We've found a galley section with a kitchen, so whoever built this ship ate and drank. But we haven't found any bodies."

As if on cue, Chakotay received a message from Samantha Wildman, " Commander, I'm on one of the lower decks. I've just found a body. It looks….Human."

Janeway broke in on the call, " Ensign, are you sure ?"

Samantha Wildman was bent low over the corpse, her tricorder in her hand, " Yes, the body's definitely human. But I think the genetic code has been enhanced."

Genetic engineering. This was getting stranger every second. Janeway had to restrain the urge to hold back her concern. Genetic engineering was banned in the Federation because of the effects of the Eugenics wars. Oh, genetic enhancing, illegal, genetic enhancing was still practiced along with research, but generally the science was considered a black one due to its history.

" Ensign, transport the body to sickbay." Janeway ordered.

Janeway walked in the damaged and cluttered sickbay, fortunately very few of her crew were here. But those that were here were asleep.

She approached the main biobed where the Doctor was examining the body. Up close Janeway saw that Sam Wildman was right. The body was human. He was tall by the look of it, wearing a black and blue tunic, a utility belt circling his waist. He had brown hair and pale skin.

" What've you got Doctor ?"

The Doctor turned to face her, " This body has been exposed to the vacuum for over 34 years. But there's enough genetic material for me to study." he walked over to the console in the centre of the room. He turned on the monitor.

" This man is the most perfect specimen of humanity I've ever encountered. His body contains highly advanced genetic enhancements, especially in the brain. It's like each of his brain cells act like miniature brains themselves, linked together they form an incredible cerebral mass. This man, and his colleagues, if I'm correct, had remarkable memories, capable of absorbing and storing information the same way a sponge soaks up water."

" The rest of his body is remarkable, its like he's got Klingon DNA in his body. He has multiple redundancies throughout. This man could probably take injuries that would kill you or the rest of the crew in seconds. His immune system has remarkable properties."

Janeway was staggered by the amount of genetic manipulation she was facing, she couldn't envision a day when a human, any human, would willingly consent to genetic engineering.

She looked up when the Doctor finished, " What properties ?"

The Doctor tried to explain, " We can cure illnesses and diseases if we study them," he said, carrying on with his monologue when the captain nodded, " But this person, if he's exposed to any form of radiation then he wouldn't need drugs, from what I've found out, I believe he can literally push the radiation from his body into a certain spot."

Janeway was about to point out that was impossible, but then again this whole situation was. She only hoped Chakotay brought back some considerable information about this ship and its crew.

Seven of Nine had been a Borg drone since she was a child, in that time she'd encountered many ships belonging to various races - Romulan, Klingon, Cardassian, Ferengi, but those ships followed a pattern, many of them were built in similar ways to the starships of the Federation. This ship was different, this ship wasn't composed of metal alloys she was familiar with. She and B'elanna Torres were walking through the corridors towards the engine compartment.

Torres was scanning the walls, " That settles it, this ship doesn't have the usual metals we find on ships like Voyager. There are some weird polymers, composites. We need to find a few samples we can take back. I want to run a few tests."

Seven was consulting her tricorder, which she pointed at a wall panel, " Lieutenant, this panel can be removed." Putting her tricorder back into its pouch, Seven removed the panel from its hinges. It came away easily. When it was free, Seven took out her tricorder, and scanned inside. The pair of them walked inside and found a small room with a number of yellow - gold panels. Seven scanned one of them

" I'm picking up some form of organic circuitry, similar to our own bio neural gel packs. There are differences."

After a minute of studying the room, the pair of them left and continued towards the engine room. B'elanna asked a question she'd been desperate to ask.

" Seven, have you ever encountered a ship like this ?"

" No, and neither has the Borg." Seven replied, " This ship could come from another galaxy, we have no way of telling at the moment, but we will. The ship computer is easy to read without the need for translation."

Torres frowned, as the one to discover the language of the ship there was no need to translate the text. But it was weird, how this ship have been built by humans and yet still be unknown. Bio neural technology had been on the drawing boards 34 years ago, which was when the ship was ….what ?

They both reached a pair of double doors which looked very much like gates. When they opened them, they couldn't believe the size of the engine compartment.

Like the bridge, the engine room was circular, but it was built on levels. Dominating the room was a massive sphere supported by three cylindrical struts that ran from the floor to the ceiling. The globe was still glowing, a deep blue colour. All around the room was a number of consoles, displays, benches. Bronze coloured plastic or glass tubes with that looked like elevator discs were all around the room. In front of the globe was a ring of displays and consoles. An upper level ring surrounded the globe, with displays and consoles added on.

When the away team returned to Voyager, the senior officers reported directly back to the captain.

B'elanna and the others had downloaded a massive amount of data from the database of the saucer, some of the science teams on board were going over it. But B'elanna, as the engineering officer, had dibs on what to keep.

" We've downloaded some of the database, quite a bit. I've downloaded some of the engineering data systems. This ship's a miracle. It isn't powered by antimatter, or any form of regular propulsion system. It's powered by a black hole."

" A black hole ?" Janeway gasped, " But, only the Romulans have developed this technology."

" Exactly," B'elanna said, " But this technology is twice as advanced. Inside the chamber is an expanded dimension, making the sphere bigger on the inside. This bubble can hold inside a small black hole, and the ship wouldn't be affected by the gravimetric eddies and distortions."

Janeway still couldn't get over it, " Incredible, too think that Humans created this…."

She got up and stood by the window, watching the disc like shape floating in the vacuum of space, lost in thought for a moment, " What else have you found ?" she asked, turning back.

Seven and B'elanna had been saving this for last, " We've checked the propulsion system in the database of the ship. It uses a hyperdrive."

" Hyperdrive ?"

Seven nodded, " It's an old theory, that propulsion can be made possible in another kind of space, in this case a higher dimension. The Humans who built this ship developed a system where space would open a portal, creating some kind of wormhole like conduit between locations. We still have to go over the designs and specifications, but we believe we can reach the Alpha Quadrant in seconds."

" And other galaxies," B'elanna broke in, " This technology isn't like our warp drive, or any form of conventional propulsion. We use subspace, essentially a _piece _of space itself. It's like," she paused to find the right simile, description, and found it quickly, " a submarine on the surface, it doesn't travel well or fast on the surface, but underwater, it moves much more quickly. The transwarp and quantum slipstream drives dig _under_ our space, but hyperspace isn't subspace. Hyperspace is _another plane _of the cosmos."

Paris whistled as the implications hit him, " Then distance and time mean nothing, we can go anywhere."

Just as they were about to continue with the meeting, there was a call from engineering, " Engineering to Torres,"

Torres looked up, " Go ahead,"

" Lieutenant, the magnetic constrictors are decaying faster. No matter what we do down here, the casing keeps rupturing."

" There's nothing we can do, Lieutenant, Voyager is going to be destroyed."

There was an explosion on the other end, followed by the dreaded sound of plasma coolant, " Coolant leak," the officer on the other end shouted, " Get out, move, move, move."

Janeway shouted, " Eject the core."

Torres accessed the engineering computer, using her codes to eject the warp core, Chakotay and Janeway did the same thing.

Nothing happened.

" Core ejection didn't work ! Warp core breach in progress."

Janeway stood up, " Right," she whispered then caught her breath, " We're abandoning ship. Commander," she said turning to Chakotay, " Get everyone beamed over to that ship, transport all our supplies over, equipment, Borg alcoves," she added looking at Seven, " Computer information."

" Mr Tuvok, can we make this an orderly evacuation ?"

As she gave her orders, the reality set in.

They were abandoning Voyager.


	2. Chapter 2 The Brain Interface

**The Brain Interface. **

The Voyager crew beamed over to the other ship, supplies were brought on board, transported or by shuttlecraft, the EMH was downloaded, and fortunately he was able to be uploaded into the medical computer. The whole ship was able to sustain holograms. Another thing that amazed the crew was that the Borg technology was able to be crew discovered an incredible transporter system, it worked on the principle of the hyperspace drive, but was much more different. This helped beam the bits and pieces off much more quickly, they were able to transport their basic possessions onboard their new ship. The Voyager crew were amazed by the rapidity of the ships teleportation systems, with it they simply had to visualise what they needed off their original ship, and simply will them on board.

Such a technology was beyond the scientific capabilities of the Federation.

* * *

><p>Voyager's warp core was going critical, it had passed the point of no return. The damage the spatial anomaly had caused had badly damaged the warp drive, and no matter what Torres or her engineering staff did, they knew that the engines would be in a critical stage.<p>

* * *

><p>Torres and the rest of the crew watched as the ship they'd spent on for the past seven years suddenly exploded. But they knew there would still be challenges.<p>

The saucers' briefing room was larger and more expansive than the one on Voyager, and a number of other Federation starships. This one was circular, a recurring theme on the saucer, since a number of important rooms on board; the bridge, engineering, the infirmary, the laboratory, the hanger decks, they all seemed to be circular rooms.

The briefing room was dominated by the set of massive windows that viewed space and a good portion of the silvery outer hull of the starship. In the middle was a massive black table. It was considerably smaller than the one on Voyager, since the late starship had few senior officers like all starships, but not this one. It seemed as though there were more departments.

But that didn't concern Janeway. She hadn't changed her primary objectives, getting her crew home. She had, of course, wanted to get Voyager home. After skirmishes with the Kazon, Seska, the Vidiians, the Borg, Species 8472, and a myriad of other races, Voyager had been destroyed by an anomaly. That really angered Janeway, but she'd known that anything could destroy her old ship.

" We need the hyper drive." she said to Torres. The chief engineer nodded, " We're working on restoring the propulsion systems, but we need time to study them. Even the impulse engines are different, thanks to their configuration. We need time to study them in detail. It should take, roughly, two or three days."

" You've got one." Janeway replied.

B'elanna shook her head, " No Captain, we need two to three days. This ship has systems federation scientists have never seen, never mind dreamt of. I need time to get my head around this thing, not rush things and blow us up."

Tuvok nodded approvingly, irritating the captain more, " Logical, eminently logical."

" I don't understand you," Harry protested, " The captain's right, we need to know how this ship works, sure, but we must keep going."

" Have you seen the engineering room ?" Seven asked, showing what side she was on, and gaining a look of appreciation from B'elanna. The two of them had come a long way in the last few years. Where they'd had a rivalry, the pair of them were close friends, the former Borg drone respected the half Klingon engineer's technological genius, and B'elanna respected Seven's scientific abilities. Plus the fact they both knew the concept of common sense.

Seven carried on, uncaring if she was antagonising anyone, she was being blunt, to the point, as usual.

" The engine room is full of technology that we've never encountered before, there are systems on board we've never seen. We need time to study them, including the hyperspace propulsion systems."

" She's right," the Doctor said, surprising everyone with his input. The hologram shrugged, " I certainly need time to get to grips with the infirmary. There are no replicators in there, there's a massive coffin in the room, plus a number of other systems and instruments I've never seen, especially on the Prometheus."

" That's a point," Tom said, " There isn't a single replicator on this ship, a number of crewmembers have complained about that fact."

" We'll leave that till later," Janeway said.

The study of the saucer took place after that. The Voyager crew ventured out into the unexplored areas of the starship. Crewmembers discovered arboretums, swimming pools of a quality not seen since the Romans, gardens the size of fields, the whole ship was full of surprises. It seemed as though the Humans who'd built this ship had been closer to nature than the people of the Federation.

Janeway herself had taken a tricorder and scanned the bridge, her new bridge, she really needed to come to terms with that. Losing her ship was a tough thing for her, but she knew she would recover.

* * *

><p>Torres was in the engine room of the saucer. If she'd honestly thought the black hole reactor, the hyperdrive engine, the organic circuitry was complicated, then she was taken aback by a number of the systems she was examining. Torres had examined many different alien ships, but this one boggled her mind. That it had been built by humans was another thing.<p>

By reading through the computer files she was able to get a good general gist of the technologies onboard the Saucer.

Chakotay was scanning the bridge, examining the consoles and their interiors with his tricorder. The more he saw the more he was fascinated by the ship. The consoles themselves were full of organic circuits held inside vacuum boxes. It seemed that the Humans who built this ship had discovered the limitations and vulnerabilities of organic circuits, similar to the Voyager crew's own experiences with gel packs. The memories of the bacteria which almost brought the ship to its knees, the memories of those parasites that almost wiped out the crew.

But the people who'd built this ship had been experimenting with means of keeping the organic parts separate from the atmosphere of the ship.

Tom came over to him, " I've figured out the helm and navigational console, but there's something weird."

Chakotay looked at him, " What's that ?"

" There's some kind of band on the console, the tricorder scan says its some kind of neural interface."

Chakotay walked over to the console in question, and found the neural interface band at once. He looked it over carefully. It was a copper coloured band, metallic with what looked like plastic laced with it. Chakotay picked it up, and ran his fingers over it. It didn't have any controls that he could see, no on or off switch of any kind. But Chakotay was experienced enough with alien technologies to know that not everything needed the simplest of controls.

" The device seems to switch itself on when its brought in contact with the brain, at least that's what the files say. There are numerous safety systems embedded in the software." B'elanna reported.

Janeway picked up the band, turning it over so then she could examine all of it.

" A neural interface…." she trailed off, " Is it safe for us to use ?"

B'elanna nodded, " It should be, the Humans who built this ship seemed to use them. I've found at least 56 of them throughout the engineering decks."

Janeway nodded, then carefully she placed the neural band on her own head. The Doctor, who was standing nearby, hurried over, " Captain - "

" As you were, Doctor," Janeway's voice was mild, but it cracked like a whip.

As soon as the band was on her head, Janeway was plugged in the computer system…..

* * *

><p>The Progenitor theory, where an alien race older than any other in the cosmos had discovered life didn't exist on other worlds, had spread genetic material throughout the cosmos with means unknown to the Federation. One of them was the Human race.<p>

But who said Mankind had evolved on Earth ?

Man had actually evolved on another world, millions of aeons somewhere else, in another galaxy. Galaxy NGC 1300, in fact, 61 million light years away in fact. Janeway realised, right then, whilst her brain was plugged into the computer system of the saucer, how small her journey was compared to what she was experiencing. The humans who built this ship obviously believed distance was irrelevant, and it was. Janeway realised how pathetic her old ship had been compared to this one.

At first, she couldn't believe it, that her race hadn't really evolved on Earth, but on another world. But when she reviewed the information, she saw it wasn't false.

Janeway relaxed and saw the files, letting her brain visualise the files and letting herself experience them in their complex beauty. The Human race had evolved on a planet they referred to as Terra, it seemed they too called themselves Terrans, regardless of whether or not they came from Earth. Terra was over twice as big as Earth, but instead of continents separated by water, there were bridges connecting the landmasses of the planet. The bridges themselves were separated by 40 miles of support struts. The bridges contained towns as well, schools, hotels….whole communities. The bridges transported trains, the Humans on the old homeworld were traditional, they worked by rails powered by fusion reactors.

It wasn't just the land which was covered in mega cities, but the underwater world was also colonised, massive fields of kelp, fish farms, water energy generators, powered by tides, currents and seawater, powered the cities. In the air, there were floating cities held in the air by anti-gravity fields. They grew their own food in the air, collected water from the rain. In the solar systems, the moons, asteroids and planets were fully colonised, their minerals were sent to the mother planet.

Deep in space, the colonisation of the galaxies began. But it began in pretty much the same way it had with Humans on Earth. The scientists of that world discovered the existence of hyperspace, and spent a decade studying the physics of the higher dimensions and their inert properties. They learnt more about universe this way than they did studying nebulas and supernovas. With this technology they were able to study the technologies of other races, some of them only theorised by their scientists.

After a century of research, they launched their first spacecraft, it was equipped with a subspace field for slower than light propulsion. It was purely a research vessel, hyperspace probes enabled images and sensory data, they couldn't say what conditions would be needed to establish working colonies on other worlds.

Within a year, all the 23 planets and bodies in their solar system was explored, within another 34, there were colonies on them.

But the eyes of the Humans looked out in the depths of space, knowing that a few planets nearby wouldn't be enough for future populations of the Human race. What if some disaster occurred in the solar system ? What if a great plague ravaged the planets and settlements ? What if something happened to the sun ?

Hyperspace technology was now used for teleportation travel in and around the solar system, a more powerful version, powered by black holes, which were more stable than antimatter energy technologies, was installed on a number of starships, some of them resembling the saucer the Voyager crew were presently inhabiting. Within a fortnight, the Humans had explored, catalogued, analysed and colonised an entire arm of a galaxy. Their technological and scientific knowledge had grown with each new light year, their knowledge of the universe grew as they met the ancient races.

The ancient races…Janeway had studied the Iconians, and older races, but she'd never truly seen their achievements the way she was now. The humans mostly stayed clear of them, but when they came into contact with them they mostly did it with great care. Some of the empires were older and probably more dangerous than the growing Empire the Humans were carving for themselves.

Janeway also saw that the Humans were dedicated to survival, it was something as old as the cosmos itself, the need to survive. Three methods of survival were presented to Humanity; firstly, colonisation of planets, asteroids, moons, and eventually great Hyperspace cities, floating diamond or spherical shaped cities with energy shields protecting their internal environment. Janeway gasped as she saw one of the cities.

It was immense, larger than a planet. The energy shield covered at least half of the mass, but the Captain saw that there were buildings, amazing buildings that would last forever.

Number two, genetic manipulation. Unlike the Federation, the Humans of the other galaxies hadn't rushed impulsively into the forbidden science. Their research had been remarkably careful, they'd experimented with various methods of genetics.

Their discoveries were various, firstly they were able to live to ripe old ages, even longer. Their bodies were enhanced, they were stronger, faster, smarter. But their senses were also enhanced.

Number three, progenitor devices. The past and the future of the humans. The pods contained pure Human DNA, millions were spread throughout the universe. One of them had been sent to Earth. But the devices didn't tell them anything about their origins. The original humans on Earth had only limited skills, how to make fires, wheels, and basic primitive metals.

The whole purpose of the Progenitor project was that Humankind would go down other avenues in the maze, they would explore different facets of life itself. Janeway absorbed this information in its digital format, and couldn't help but wonder if the other pods had fared as well as the one on Earth. Although she knew it had been a long road, unlike their forbears, the Earth born Human race hadn't had an easy united ride, they'd had wars that stretched back millennia, then First Contact came and then….exploration of the galaxy.

Janeway asked the computer, she'd only just realised it was sentient, what the ship was doing here, and what had happened to the crew.

The Humans were still exploring the cosmos, they'd colonised a good portion of the universe already, and they'd known about Earth and its progress for centuries. The progenitors had been sent out at random, their creators losing track of them, which Janeway thought was pretty careless of them. When an expedition had discovered the hyperspace signature of the progenitor in the galaxy they homed in on it, and found Earth. It had been in the 23rd century, during the time of the Federation.

The Humans had been proud that their own people had made strides in a direction that they'd never bothered to do, oh they'd made contact with other races, set up trade deals and such, but never did they do something on this scale. But they felt that their people were too insular, they seemed close minded to various ideas.

Janeway had a good idea what those ideas were.

She carried on, concentrating on the reasons behind the ship being here. The saucer was here on a routine expedition to check up on the Federations progress, at least they had been when they ran into an electro-kinetic storm, it killed every member of the crew and left the ship here, drifting in a remote sector of the Delta Quadrant.

Janeway removed the interface when she thought she'd seen and experienced enough. The others clustered around her.

" I saw it, the whole history of the Human race." she whispered.

* * *

><p>B'elanna and Seven were down in main engineering, examining the systems and learning how they worked. B'elanna was wearing a headset. It seemed as though the headsets in the rooms were for the functions of the room. For the bridge, a headset could control the helm, navigation, tactical, whilst down here, they'd obviously control the engine and power systems.<p>

B'elanna was awed by the similarities and differences between Voyager and this Saucer. The earlier analysis run by Seven on Voyager had claimed this ship's sublight engines were impulse, ion, gravitic and subspace fields. Torres had seen many propulsion systems used by various races, and they used more or less the same principles. For a start the impulse and ion systems were more or less the same, except they had differences unlike anything that ships like Voyager possessed. Impulse engines are typically augmented fusion rockets with a fusion reactor, driver coil assembly, and a vectored thrust nozzle for plasma exhaust. In this case, however, the systems were augmented by three fusion reactors inside one another, like that Russian doll with the insides made slightly smaller than the one before. This way, the power was enhanced.

The plasma created a minute subspace field, which in itself was augmented by the subspace field generators throughout the ship. The gravitic engines themselves did the same job by creating energy fields which acted against superstrings. Physics stated that for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction, and the gravitic engines proved that, just like it proved that the ship needed a highly efficient inertial dampener system, it had it too. Instead of just being reliant on inertial dampeners like on Voyager, the saucer itself had an inner layer of liquid metal. It acted like the hydraulic dampener systems of an aircraft from the 21st century. Tom may think he was a buff on the subject, but it was simple engineering to her.

Like Voyager, the saucer collected gases from space itself, but it was down to absorbers on the skin of the ship, they collected everything, every particle of space dust, solar winds, light….it collected them all, and stored it as energy. It was amazing.

The ion systems were conventional enough, they just added a greater amount of speed. Ion propulsion was basically an electrical field that accelerated charged particles and ejected them at high speeds. In the case of the saucer, there was more than one ion field, more like a hundred, which allowed the ship greater acceleration.

The subspace field was enhanced by the impulse drive, and Torres saw the practicality in the design and the shape of the saucer; it was a good idea rather than something like a Federation ship, which consisted of a saucer, a lower body, two warp nacelles and a thin neck. The amount of manoeuvrability this ship had would make it seem that this ship could move like lightning.

The amount of stress, the rates of acceleration….the saucers round disc like body was practical and safe, the construction of the hull was like a rock.

If Voyager had tried the sorts of speeds Torres was starting believe this ship was more than capable of, then Voyager would simply break apart.

The power system fascinated B'elanna. It was well known that the Romulans had developed, instead of antimatter - matter reactors, quantum singularity plants on board their ships, which in turn powered their warp engines. B'elanna saw that the singularity was probably more powerful than those used by the Romulans. Instead of diverting precious time and power to simply bottling up the black hole in a magnetic field, they simply built a container that had another dimension added on with the black hole stored inside it. The science behind it boggled B'elanna, it would take the scientists back home a challenge, but she imagined they could do it.

The black hole was practical, especially since the Saucer needed to warp space in order to create the hyperspace portal.

Space was warped into creating a gateway into the hyperspace dimension, at either ends. This created a fold like effect, allowing for more rapid travel. By studying the history of hyperspace propulsion, B'elanna had found out that the earlier test ships had spent hours looking for a way home, slowing the other Humans down. The discovery of the space fold matrix helped them stabilise their exploration missions.

Seven moved over to her, " Lieutenant, what is your opinion of the Humans who built this ship ?"

B'elanna looked at the former Borg drone, " I think they're geniuses, especially since they've been around longer than us."

The half Klingon engineer fell silent. Seven looked at her questioningly, especially since B'elanna rested her hand on her pregnant belly.

After a while, B'elanna spoke in a voice Seven took to be awed. It was like the thoughts the Bajorans had when they thought about their gods, " To think the Human race is older and had created this ship long before we ourselves travelled through the stars….it scares me."

That was something that Seven agreed with B'elanna on, " Yes, I know. I'm intimidated by this ship," the former Borg admitted unashamedly, " Our ancestors built this ship to explore space, whilst we've only just started."

Torres nodded, " I don't understand why they sent out those progenitor devices the captain described."

Seven thought that out, " I believe it was because the Human race would survive and develop in other ways. There may be another Federation out there, older than our own by millennia. There may be a Human race that has become the masters of time and space."

" Who knows ?" Seven continued.

B'elanna nodded. The implications of the progenitors…..who knew what else was out there ?


	3. Chapter 3 The Saucer

**The Saucer. **

Janeway was running her tricorder over the console near the centre seat, but her mind was elsewhere. She was still reeling from the revelations that the Human race, her own people, weren't descended from life on Earth. How was it possible ? When she'd seen the evidence the Voth had brought up, but that evidence must be circumstantial. Janeway got a headache just thinking about the Voth, they were descended from Earth, regardless of what their insular, arrogant, pig headed doctrine said.

Janeway couldn't care less about their doctrine, if they wanted to ignore their own past that was their choice. What did frustrate her was the fact the Voth shared so many genetic factors. The computer program she'd viewed didn't explain it, but Janeway knew enough about planetary terraformation to guess that the progenitor device that seeded the human race on Earth had laced it with the local genetic material of the planet. Terraformation did that with plant life on other worlds.

Yes, that must be it.

Kathryn Janeway had been a Starfleet officer for the best part of her life, she'd seen many things in her life, heard other things that were beyond belief. Things that in the past would've been considered ludicrous. Janeway remembered the archaeological mission Professor Galen had undertaken before he was killed, that he had discovered that many genetic sources had a single source.

Jean Luc Picard had brought proof and the outcry had been beyond belief. It had an effect on religious people, that the Human race HAD been created. But the idea Man had been created in another galaxy ….

It was something Janeway just couldn't wrap her brain around, it was one thing to learn that a version of God had existed, albeit an alien god, and created virtually every Humanoid race in the universe, but to find out that Mankind's ancestral home was just one of a million, one of a _trillion_ colonies, out there, in space…..

Janeway couldn't help but think about those other humans, what were they doing ? Did they know about their true origins ? Janeway had studied the information Starfleet had sent on the Dominion, about the Founders. Apparently, that mysterious race of shape shifters had begun their existence as peaceful explorers, only to be driven back by the fear of the " solids," as they referred to races that couldn't change shape. In light of that, the created a genetically engineered army, completely subservient to the Shapeshifters will. But the Founders were still interested about gathering knowledge, so they'd sent out infants, one of them was the security officer on Deep Space Nine. Janeway had met a good portion of the staff on that station, including Odo. As a scientist she was fascinated in the abrupt and surprisingly sensitive changeling.

Janeway couldn't help but think that the Humans who seeded Earth with Janeway's own race had been like the Founders, that they wanted to learn more about the universe, about other ways of living.

If that was so then what was happening with those races ? Had they created Federations like the one Janeway served in, or had they just created interstellar empires ? Kathryn was reminded of the time Kirk had crossed over the multi-dimensional barrier and found that so called Mirror Universe, with the brutal Terran Empire. Was there a version of that reality in this universe ?

Janeway couldn't envision a branch of Humanity as a brutal empire ruled over with an iron fist, but then again she couldn't deny the possibility.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile Tom Paris was walking through the corridors of the saucer, part of his mind linked with the mental interface, he was presently exploring the ship, using the interface as a guidebook, and letting his own curiosity guide him through the corridors.<p>

The ship was massive compared to Voyager, there were areas the crew hadn't ventured out into yet, but the salvage team was making progress thanks to the mental interfaces.

But Toms' mind was on something else, the fact that there were other Human races out there in other parts of the universe, each one the same and yet different.

* * *

><p>Lt. Commander Tuvok was presently examining the tactical systems, and was amazed even though his emotions were hidden behind his control.<p>

The saucer was armed with weapons more superior than anything Starfleet had ever encountered, even the weapons used by the Borg collective didn't come close. The weapons of the saucer were both conventional and yet unconventional at the same time. The Saucer possessed a variety of Quantum torpedoes, but the torpedoes would phase in and out of the target's body, and explode inside the enemy and cause massive amounts of damage. There was a variety of weapons, including the shell transport gun. The shell transport gun acted like a mass driver, or a rail gun, but it had much in common with primitive projectile weapons on Earth. The shell transport gun used magnetic fields to accelerate shells, but at the end of the conduit was a transport device that transported the shell through the shields of an enemy ship, and the shell exploded. The shell itself was a Quantum shell of a variety of the sort used by the Quantum torpedo.

The Saucer possessed over 3 of the shell transport guns. Other more dangerous weapons included the meson disrupter, mesons were the atomic glue that held matter together. If you cut across it then any object would simply cease to exist.

A similar weapon was the matter disintegrator, it was like the transport - replicator technology, that matter can be converted into energy. A beam of this means was able to break down a starship and then absorb the energy. Tuvok was amazed by the brutality of this weapon, but conceded that there were other more powerful enemies out there in space, in other parts of the universe. The Humans who built this ship knew that the weapons used by the Federation wouldn't protect them from those threats.

The Saucer used plasma torpedoes and they " jumped " through space, and impacted on the enemy ships and destroyed them, other varieties included the chroniton torpedoes, weapons that were phased outside of space - time, bypassing enemy shields and defences and cripple the starship.

Antimatter torpedoes were unstable weapons, they contained antimatter inside an unstable containment field, and literally exploded with a fusion bomb.

Beam weapons included the disruptors, fusion and neutron beams, and the temporal acceleration beam. The disruptors used phased polaron beams. The temporal acceleration beam accelerated an object, aging a physical object until it literally fell apart.

Disruptors similar to the version used by the Romulans, only with a plasma and antimatter surge, were mounted on pulse emitters. Antiproton beams were also installed, they sent out antiprotons, which located and impacted on any proton.

The Saucer was protected by the tactical computer, a self contained organic " brain ", the brain formulated strategies and counter strategies in less than a nanosecond. The outer hull was composed of alloys and composites that absorbed the impact of energy weapons, but there was an inner layer composed of liquid metal, the computer referred to it as part of the inertial dampener system. But the shields were special because the hull plating was composed of shield generators built into the molecular structure, the outer hull performed a similar function because the construction of the hull, it was composed of an alloy of light neutronium and osmidium which made the ship unbreakable, the hull was also opaque to subspace fields.

" Fascinating." Tuvok said.

* * *

><p>The Doctor was a hologram on a mission. He was seated at his new desk in the infirmary, and was checking the medical database.<p>

" Computer, replication." he said.

The computer brought up the information on replication technology, and the Doctor read it all with a professional eye. When he reached the bottom, he thought for a moment. Then he tapped his combadge, " Doctor to Janeway, could you please come down to the infirmary. There's something you need to see."

* * *

><p>" Are you sure about this Doctor ?" Janeway asked as she examined the file the Doctor had read prior to calling the captain.<p>

The Doctor nodded, " I am, I've already checked on a crewmember who was in here. The signs are there."

The Captain's face went stony, " What can be done ?"

" Fortunately, the healing field this ship can produce can remove the damage replicators can inflict on DNA. The long term problem is that the Federation uses this science. The resources of the Federation are already in demand due to the war with the Dominion."

" So eventually we would need to cultivate food supplies," Janeway nodded, understanding the problems at hand. Replicators had been a big boom in the 24th century, without them Humanity wouldn't have been able to grow massive quantities of foodstuffs.

To find that they were a heath risk, and a massive one, was a blow. Once the war was over in the Alpha Quadrant the Federation would need to put up with continual lack of resources, something Janeway was more than aware of. The Dominion War was already considered a wasteful conflict in the Alpha Quadrant, more so than the Romulan War in the 22nd century.

* * *

><p>" Replicators ?" Harry asked, " Replicators are dangerous ?"<p>

Janeway shrugged, " That's what's in the database. The file the doctor found indicates that the atomic bonds in replicated matter are forced rather than natural, they break down too easily. When it comes to synthetic foods, the matter attacks the genetic code. The only reason we didn't find it in any scans is because we simply didn't look for it."

Chakotay frowned at the briefing room table. Then he looked up, " I've asked a number of crewmen to search the ship for anything that resembles food. The hydroponic forest is full of fruits."

" Forest ?" Torres asked puzzled. Janeway couldn't blame her.

Chakotay explained. " There is a massive forest in a section of the ship, it provides an oxygen supply, and also a facility to grow organic foods. There's even a small river in there."

Tom whistled, " Wow, and I thought this ship couldn't provide more surprises."

" Well it is," Janeway stated, " We've found out that our race didn't evolve originally on Earth. We've discovered that Mankind out there is a technologically advanced civilisation. We've found out they use a different propulsion system. Now, we've found they've discovered synthetic technology is harmful."

Torres was frowning, " What are the long term effects of replicator use ?"

The Doctor replied to that, " At first the effects are minimal, but as time goes and generations come and go, the immune systems start to fail, you become more hungry, DNA strands start to break up, reproductive material starts to fail, birthrates plummet down."

Harry whispered, " How're we gonna tell the crew ?"

" We'll show the files when they go to the infirmary for the treatment," Janeway said after a minute of thinking, " The doctor will show them what's going on. I don't intend for my crew to be wrapped in cotton wool, they deserve better than that. Doctor," she turned her attention to the hologram, " I'll send crewmembers down to the infirmary for treatment, whilst their there make sure they see the file, and make sure they read it."

" Aye captain."

* * *

><p><em>Captain's Log. Supplemental. <em>

_The study of the Saucer is going as planned, the crew are becoming more and more acquainted with their new ship and its systems. But the issue with the replicators still leave me cold. The Federation, and other powers in the Alpha Quadrant, have been using replicators for over a century. They were considered practical and safe, their use negated the need and use for massive quantities of supplies for starships on long term exploratory missions, and now it seems we need to put that system back into place._

_On a happier note, B'elanna and her team believes we can use the hyperspace drive soon. Hopefully, we can get home and find the war being fought is over. _

* * *

><p>The Saucer was travelling through space, the subspace field warping space around the ship, but this time the ship was travelling much faster than a starship, the movement of the saucer would literally start to tear a ship like Voyager to shreds.<p>

Tom Paris was in the pilot seat, he was using his brain and mind power and his hands. He was enjoying himself, the pilot band around his head was taking his thoughts and translating his thoughts into actions, but he was still using his hands. He wanted to test his reflexes, which had always been well honed by time and practice. So far, it wasn't exactly a draw. Tom decided to use his hands when needed, and virtual direction.

The brilliant thing about the saucer's virtual piloting system was the fact that if Tom wanted something done, he didn't need to waste precious time inputting the technique into the computer and letting the computer do the work. The virtual pilot took the thought and simply translated it into its own language.

Whilst Paris was experimenting with the pilot system, Chakotay was enjoying the forest. It was like a real forest, even though the ceiling was in fact panels with luminescent lighting. The lighting was incredibly detailed, and the amazing thing about it was it didn't feel artificial. The grass was lush, green, and absolutely natural. The trees were whistling in the artificial wind, the water tasted fresh, sweet and cool.

The first officer sat down on the grass and listened to the sound of nature.


	4. Chapter 4 Jump into another Galaxy

**Jump into another galaxy. **

_Captain's Log: Supplemental entry. _

_B'elanna has succeeded in restoring the hyperspace drive, and the first test is scheduled for later on today. Tom has found the location of the Human progenitors and came up with the suggestion of meeting them. Whilst I want to return home, the idea of meeting the forefathers of my own Human community is too great to ignore, as are the things we can learn. _

In the briefing room, Janeway brought this up with the rest of the senior staff, " I've given a lot of thought to the meeting of the other Human race. We know we can return to our own part of this galaxy if we travel to the other galaxy. I have decided that we'll make a jump to galaxy NGC 1300."

Harry Kim automatically protested, " But Captain, should we - ?"

" Mr Kim," Janeway's voice cracked like a whip, " We have the means of returning to our galaxy whenever we choose." her voice became even more dangerous and even Harry noticed it, " Let me remind you of something, while I value your opinions, don't ever question me of my choices when I've decided them."

Harry wilted under his captain's gaze.

Tuvok spoke up, " Captain, what would stop them from retaking this ship ?"

Seven nodded, " He's right. We may have salvage rights, but they not."

Janeway nodded, " Mr Tuvok, go over the files on this ship's capabilities, we may need to leave in a hurry."

" Aye captain."

* * *

><p><em>Bridge. <em>

Janeway sat down at her new command chair and consulted the console beside her seat. She tapped her combadge, " Janeway to engineering."

" Torres here. Captain, we're almost ready. The hyperdrive is charged and ready."

" Good," Janeway said, " Any problems ?"

" None, but I'd like permission to control the drive from here."

" Okay."

* * *

><p><em>Engineering. <em>

The hyperspace engine was pulsing with energy, the power and gravitational forces of the black hole, the subspace energy capacitors were pumping vast amounts of energy into the drive.

B'elanna, with Seven of Nine, Vorik, and the rest of her staff, were checking the systems of the drive. Seven looked over from the reactor console, and nodded. Torres grinned.

" Ok," she said aloud and getting everyone's attention, " It's a bit different from the warp core of Voyager, but I know you can do it. I have faith in all of you. Let's do it, hopefully we can be back home before we know it."

Everyone smiled, B'elanna savoured the faces of her friends…..when she'd started as chief engineer, she'd displaced Carey as the possible next chief. Torres wished the competent officer who'd rapidly become a friend and member of her team was still here. She knew he was watching over them, hopefully smiling down on them all.

Torres went over to join Seven. For a moment, a short moment, they shared a look. Once upon a time they'd hated each other, now they were friendly. B'elanna tenderly rubbed her belly, swollen with her unborn daughter. Seven looked at her, waiting. Then, surprisingly, she placed her hand on the control that would send them across the universe, but she didn't touch it. She looked toward B'elanna again. Torres understood, and smiled. She placed her hand on the control. Both of them pressed it.

Together.

* * *

><p>The ride through hyperspace wasn't like a warp jump, nor was it anything like a quantum or transwarp conduit. The hyperspace dimension had no distance to it. Anyone travelling inside the dimension would find themselves transported instantly through space.<p>

Before the eyes of the bridge crew, there was a bright white light, similar to the effects of warp travel. Then they found themselves in a solar system.

Janeway looked over at Tom, " Report."

Paris checked the computer, both mentally and visually, " We're…61million light years from where we just were." he looked back at the screen, awe in his tone. Janeway couldn't blame him.

Tuvok studied his console, " Captain, I'm picking up no light from the sun."

" Visual."

The screen changed again. It showed a solar system with over 3 planets and a number of moons, space dust. Dominating the vista was a massive nebula, its beautiful colours reminding Janeway of a rainbow. But something caught her eye, and the eyes of everyone on the bridge.

A sphere, a black sphere. It was massive, virtually featureless.

" Analysis," Janeway whispered.

" Captain," Kim said, his voice surprised, " the sphere is surrounding a star. It's similar to the Dyson Sphere encountered by the Enterprise."

Janeway gasped, she, like many others, knew the story of how Montgomery Scott, the fabled chief engineer of the Constitution class Enterprise, had been trapped on a Dyson sphere on the wreck of a ship.

The humans had done it again. They'd surprised their own descendents.


	5. Chapter 5 The Legacy of the Human Race

**The Legacy of the Human Race. **

The Voyager crew had been at the Dyson sphere for the best part of a fortnight, studying the technology and the concepts of science that wouldn't be known to their forebears for aeons. Janeway had been as surprised as anyone about the Dyson sphere's existence, but then again she'd only touched the basics of the history of her genetic forebears. She hadn't studied their whole history. Judging from the Sphere, it would've taken forever.

The Dyson sphere, for lack of a better term, was vast, but even that word didn't do the sphere justice. It would be considering it surrounded and engulfed an entire star. Janeway and other away teams had tricorders out, studying every square inch of the sphere. It astonished them all that there was no one here, no one. The amount of data gathered was remarkable, even after a few days.

Chakotay was inside what happened to be a control room, but it was the size of seven towns, and went down vertically like a skyscraper. At every level there was a walkway with a circular structure in the middle. So far Chakotay and his team, consisting of 34 people, had found consoles, holographic displays, and things that defied their powers of description. Connecting all the floors was an anti gravitational lift, which allowed the crews to take a look around the chamber.

" Commander," Kim called out from 3 floors above. Chakotay went over to the anti grav disc suspended above any solid ground, and then simply went up. The discs were similar to the ones on board the saucer, so the crew were used to their unusual properties.

The commander found the ensign standing over what looked like a neural interface band.

Kim looked at him nervously, then picked it up. " Should I ?"

" No," Chakotay said soothingly; Kim was one of those crewmembers who were still wary of the neural interface bands. But Chakotay wasn't one of them. He'd studied the literature, the culture of these different humans. They were comparable to those of the Humans from Earth, but they were far more…classical.

Taking the band from Kim, Chakotay braced himself for the mental intrusion and then placed it on his head.

Nothing happened.

Kim looked in confusion as Chakotay took off the band and looked at it in bemusement. Kim was about to say something when there was a light and a hologram appeared, or what might've been a hologram. There was no way of telling, mostly because no one was bothering to scan the vision in front of them.

It was a woman. A beautiful woman, with cascading black hair, blue eyes and a finely sculptured face. She was dressed in a long dress that went right down to her heels.

She smiled, a bright, happy smile, " Welcome Home."

* * *

><p>Janeway regarded the woman, who was watching them with a look that might've been amusement. It was hard to tell, she seemed….Vulcanish. Oh, she didn't suppress her emotions, but Janeway saw, and knew that Tuvok saw it as well, that she was completely in control of herself and her general feelings. The only sense of emotion they were feeling was that of welcome and friendship.<p>

Janeway walked over to her cautiously, the woman's face was solemn but welcoming and amiable, " You…you're really Human ? Or are you a hologram ?" Janeway asked the second question curiously, she wanted to know if this was a genuine human being and not some spectre. The woman's face morphed into an indignant glare, " A hologram, me ? No, I am as flesh and blood as you are."

Janeway nodded, " Oh, good. Then you can answer some questions." Janeway said, folding her arms. Then she stopped, where do you start when you were dealing with your own ancestors and relatives you've never met ?

The woman seemed to understand, " You have many questions ?"

" Yes, we do," Janeway said, pausing and gathering her thoughts. Then the question popped into her head, " Are you all that's left ?"

The woman threw back her head and laughed, a melodious sound that echoed throughout the chamber, " We're inside a sphere wrapped around a star. Space and room have no limit here for populations. No, I am not the only human being, aside from you and your crew. We were waiting for you to actually explore the interior of the sphere, but I decided to take the initiative, and make contact with you."

Chakotay moved forward to ask the woman his next question, " Who are you ?"

The woman smiled at him, she seemed fascinated by his tribal tattoo. But she recovered herself and answered his question.

" I am Mara. I see you recognise the name, it's an old name indeed. We genetically implanted our basic names into your genetic makeup when we seeded Earth. Speaking of names, yes I know all of your names." she added.

Tuvok stepped forward, " You have shaped the Human race I know for centuries ?"

Mara regarded him, " Ah, a Vulcan. Yes, we know of your race, just like we know about the Federation. An impressive achievement, bringing various races with various beliefs under one banner. We didn't shape the Human race, we gave the blueprint, the programming of the genetic code. Our programming enabled all of our progenitor seeds to create fire, the wheel, every form of basic technology to get you started. We didn't implant the science and the design of a steam turbine, they needed to learn that for themselves."

" So we had to fend for ourselves ? Don't you take any responsibility ?" Janeway asked, unable to comprehend any of this.

Mara looked down, amusement shining on her fair skin, " We've seeded dozens of planets, thousands. Yours wasn't the only one. We protected those planets, maintaining a fleet nearby to repel any aliens from colonising but not from exploring. We stopped 34 separate invasions, going to those worlds and vaporising the inhabitants. Don't tell me that we didn't take responsibility. You are our kin, our blood. Our cousins. Our children."

" You destroyed various beings ?" Kim asked in horror.

" Yes, for your safety. The races who would've attacked or enslaved you meant nothing to us, and they still don't," Mara replied without a show of remorse. " To get back to your original question, Captain. We wanted you and your brethren to fend for yourselves. That was the whole point. We wanted you to evolve, to expand in directions my branch of humanity never even touched. You needed to learn everything without my branch looking over your collective shoulders. That would've ruined every part of the project."

" Project ? We're not a project," Torres said indignantly.

Mara looked over at the chief engineer, " I apologise, the phrasing wasn't exactly correct. But look at it from my point of view," she continued in her same calm tone, " Every planet we seeded with Pure Human DNA is, by our definition, a project. What else would you call it ? Don't you call your own colonisation and terraformation efforts projects ?"

" Yes, but - "

" But nothing," Mara interrupted sharply. The conversation was starting to annoy her and Chakotay could see that. He decided to steer the conversation back to its original track.

" You said that you wanted your Human seeding to discover the answers it needed ?" he asked curiously.

Mara smiled, " Yes, it was the whole point. We wanted to prolong our species, but if we just seeded worlds with unprogrammed DNA then it would've taken centuries for them to discover the rudiments of language, art, literature, science and engineering. Imagine yourselves, living in caves, unable to light fires, living in primitive conditions, unable to reason or to advance. We programmed your DNA to carry the basic blueprints of technology, without which you'd never be able to start fires, create the wheel, start your own language, both written and articulated."

" That was the whole point of the project, I'm sorry, I can't think of a proper name to describe it, we wanted to create new branches of Humanity, subtly different, but virtually the same. But each branch would curve away from your own path. We seeded your planets millions of years ago, more or less at the same time, but in different galaxies."

Janeway caught the double meaning behind that, " Curve away from your own path, what does that mean ? We're all Human."

Mara chuckled, " Oh, what wonderful arrogance. We used the same programming, yes, but each circumstance was different. We didn't remove the underlying aspect of Human evolution. All Humans, the progenitor and my source branch, have the same evolutionary characteristics, we have those who have gifts. These cover many fields, art, science, technology, music….prodigies, but deep down our nature is and will always be the same. My source branch has fought many wars, both between ourselves and other races. It's the same with your own branch, and those others in the cosmos. We didn't want to remove that from your genetic makeup. War is a great motivation for change, for growth. The philosophy that growth and strength stem from conflict is real. You bring two sides together, they fight, many die. But those who survive are stronger, smarter and better. It's like knocking over an ant hill. Every new generation gets stronger, the ant hill is redesigned and made better."

Janeway couldn't believe what she was hearing, " You mean you deliberately placed that in our makeup ? Suppose we destroyed each other ?"

Mara shook her head, " Again Captain, you appear to be missing the point. The source branch of the Human civilisation had countries like yours. In fact, we seeded worlds that had landmasses in order to duplicate the rise of Man. Those same countries were separated by water, politics and war. The seeding of those worlds was a repeat of that. It was the only logical step to create new Human branches successfully, we couldn't exactly give you all our knowledge. What's the point of advancing if everything is handed to you on a plate ?"

No one answered. Mara carried on with her monologue, " Besides, we also carried out differences with some of our progenitors. 6 branches had telepathy, instead of just advancing through war and conflict, what one Human knew the others knew. Those races have gone out into the universe. We seeded those galaxies a long way from this one."

" You mean, we're the only ones to discover the secret of our origins ?" Harry whispered in astonishment.

Mara smiled, " Yes.

* * *

><p><em>Captain's log. <em>

_For the last 3 hundred years, Mankind has journeyed the galaxy, believing that we were unique to the universe. Recently we've discovered that to be wrong. Mara has given us access to history files and texts in the Sphere's library, and we've also discovered a star chart of where the Human progenitor races are living. _

_I've heard many things in my career, most of them hard to imagine, and even harder to follow. But this one blows me away. Mara has opened up the Interior of the Sphere, the massive living chamber of the Human race. So far, I've met at least 78 people, some of them children. To say that Tuvok has been beaten at logical puzzles by children smaller than himself, and younger, is something I find hard to believe. The fact that a Vulcan has been beaten by Human children gives me a sense of pride. _

_I've been invited by the council, the ruling body of the Sphere, to discover what's going to happen next._

* * *

><p>Lieutenant Commander Tuvok had observed educational practices from many cultures, including Humans. But the progenitor Human culture's technique was similar to that of Vulcan. Vulcan children were educated by simply encouraging them to absorb facts, set in a logical pattern. They were then taken to the Enclave, a room where there were many bowl like crevices set in the ground, each one capable of sending out questions and images at a massive rate.<p>

The Human technique here was similar and yet different, here they simply absorbed the facts and, placed inside cubicles, they were exposed to holographic images and asked questions. The cubicles could be tailored to specific needs, allowing the children to control the rate of questioning. Tuvok was presently inside one such room where there were many cubicles set in rows. Each one was the size of a small room. There was a seat for comfort and the walls were a dark grey with silver lining.

The commander looked at his guide, an educator named Sandra. She was showing the curious Vulcan around the education facilities and explaining as she went.

" At the ages between 5 and 11, students are taught the normal way, they're sat in classrooms, and taught the basics of language, mathematics, biology, science and history. The students are assigned a computer each, a pass bar for them to access their own work. Then the computers give them the facts they need."

Tuvok nodded, " I see, but how does that prepare them for this stage in their education ?"

Sandra smiled, " It's not just classrooms that the students are given access to, Mr Tuvok. We give them access to libraries, we teach them how to use them. We encourage them to use them, to think. The classroom work is to bolster their minds. 11 to 18, the students are moved into another part of the college. There they learn about the various facilities, common rooms, classrooms."

" The students are still taught the same way, but in their next stage of education they teach themselves using computers and books."

Tuvok was shown one such classroom. It was occupied, he saw one girl skilfully assemble a device in a short amount of time and present it to the rest of the class.

* * *

><p>The Doctor had met dozens of holograms in the past, but the holograms here were like another race altogether; in many ways, the Doctor was similar to them. They were self aware, highly intelligent, intuitive, both had various and separate interests in many fields and they could move around freely, but that was where the basic similarities ended. The Doctor used a mobile emitter, but these holograms used what was called a light bee.<p>

The light bee was a piece of technology that was like comparing the mobile emitter with a candle and a light bulb, the bee was a multi layered sphere the size of a golf ball. The nanotechnology inside made the Borg's version look like a child's toy in comparison. The nanotechnology acted like little machines, they held the holographic body in a 3D container, connected to a computer built on a molecular level inside the bee and held inside an organic cell. The layers controlled various aspects of the hologram, for example, layer 1 controlled the skin tone, eye colour, hair colour, layer 2 controlled the appearance of the body. All the layers were interconnected and maintained by a computer system outside the body.

The Doctor observed the holograms critically, they were more advanced than he was, more knowledgeable, they could probably do his job effortlessly.

One of the holograms sidled up to him, " You're not used to holograms, are you ?" she asked.

The Doctor had met several holograms, Iden, Dejaren the isomorph, the Prometheus' EMH. That was it. But the first two….they were insane with a hatred that defied creation against life itself, people who'd created them all. The Doctor understood that hatred, he was repulsed by it, but he did understood it.

Indeed, the crew of Voyager itself had treated as no more than a walking tricorder. But that had changed over time, but the Doctor still remembered the way he'd been treated.

The doctor shrugged, conceding, " I've met holograms who'd wanted more, but they went about it the wrong way. I met a hologram who'd been treated terribly by his crew, and he killed them. He almost murdered a friend of mine, all because she was " organic."

The doctor closed his eyes, the memories filling his matrix with horror, " The next time I met a group of holograms who'd been no more than fodder for the Hirogen hunters, we gave them holographic technology so then they could rebuild their race, but the holograms got loose and started a rampage. I spent time with them and was inspired, their goal to establish a new way of life was….." the doctor trailed off. But the holographic woman understood. The Doctor poured out his heart, holographic though it was, but she understood.

* * *

><p>Seven of Nine was enjoying her time studying the cybernetics library of the sphere. The database was downloaded into her head. The Borg collective had long since been experts in the field of cybernetics, well they should be considering they were cybernetic beings, enhanced with implants and their minds and experiences in a single minded collective. But the Borg's knowledge was miniscule compared with the millions of years worth of knowledge the Humans of the Sphere had gathered. It wasn't just their own knowledge, but other races.<p>

The Humans weren't exaggerating when they claimed they were explorers, it was true. They'd met millions of races over the centuries, sent probes and emissaries out in the cosmos, gathered their knowledge. Cybernetics was one of those topics which was experimented on, using other examples as templates. It had been cybernetics technology that gave the Humans their ability to send information directly into the brains of their people as effortlessly as it took to touch a button.

* * *

><p>Chakotay had never expected to encounter a group of Indians, well that was how he thought of them, on an advanced sphere.<p>

" We are allowed to live our lives the way we want to. If we wish to live our lives as spiritualists, then we can," one of their leaders said.

The forest was massive, Chakotay wasn't sure how large the forest was, but he could see a number of animals resembling deer, rabbits and birds in the distance. If that wasn't strange, there were also mountains in the distance. Mountains !

Chakotay looked at a diminutive girl, and then gestured towards the mountains and forests, " How large is this place ?"

The girl smiled, " The forest space occupies the whole of the interior. The second level. We're closer to the core here."

Chakotay squinted upwards at the sky, " How…._high_ is it ?"

The girl giggled, " You're full of questions. I like that. To answer your question, the size of this habitat is vast, the height is similar to the height of the upper reaches of the atmosphere of a planet. You seem to forget, size means nothing to our people anymore. Not since we developed the sphere."

" And you live here ?"

The girl smiled, " Yes. Come," she said, " meet the others."

Chakotay followed her to a small settlement, all the buildings were made of wood, sticks with mud. The girl took him by the arm and led him to a small chair. He found himself sharing their feast. It was a mixture of meats, vegetables, fruits…it looked to good to eat.

" You come from one of the seeded worlds ?" A man asked Chakotay.

Chakotay nodded, " Earth. I was raised in an environment similar to this one."

" Oh," an elderly woman leant forward, her hands folded as she smiled at him like a grandmother would smile at a favourite grandchild. " You must have stories."

Chakotay smiled, feeling like he was home. In a sense.

**A/N - I plan on writing another chapter about life on the Sphere. Stay tuned and enjoy. **


	6. Chapter 6 The Council's decision

**Sorry it's a bit short, but I couldn't think of anything else to write. **

**The Council's decision.**

Janeway waited patiently in the council chamber of the Dyson Sphere, drumming her fingers impatiently on the polished table she was sitting at with nothing to do except feel her brain trickle out down her nose, sitting in an ornate chair that was artistically elegant rather than extravagant, clearly showing these people had more taste than various races who believed art should be….chunky. The last hour had been spent waiting in this grand room. Janeway looked around for what seemed like the thousandth time that past hour. The explorer in Janeway was fascinated by the remarkable artefacts around the room.

The room was massive, maybe about the same basic size as a cargo bay found on the late Starship Voyager, only it was more nicer to look at. The floors were made up of dark blue tiles made of some sort of shiny material but it wasn't slippery, it was like walking across a carpet.

The chamber was like a museum than a room where decisions were made, oh sure, some starships in the Federation had some sort of decoration in their conference rooms, but not to this extent.

There were models of vehicles; hover cars, some ocean going vessels of some design, aircraft of various sizes and designs, varying between wooden craft and later light metal aircraft. Even what looked like a hot air balloon. The similarities between the designs and the ones from Earth's own history made Janeway shake her head with annoyance. At times like this, she was convinced the genetic tinkering done to the progenitor devices made the human race unoriginal.

Ancient maps with vivid and highly preserved colours were mounted in ornate but simple frames which somehow enhanced their beauty were on the marble walls. Protected by glass panels with atmospheric grids, the maps were sealed inside, but that didn't mean that they were hidden by the panels.

There was even a huge model of a typical city from the planet Terra. Janeway had spent the last 45 minutes studying it, noticing the faint but familiar similarities to Ancient Greek, Phoenician, Egyptian, Roman and the modern cities of the 20th, 21st and 24th centuries. Again more evidence of the genetic programming of the Human race.

The city was spread out in a shape of a starfish, or a galaxy, the centre occupied by the enormous hub. The knowledge that had been downloaded into her brain told her it was in fact the senate building, the very heart, the literal centre of the Human race, responsible for government, commerce, science, culture and exploration. All the city was connected by monorails and underground railways, holographic air trams and saucers lifted off and flittered across the city.

The spaceport occupied a whole arm of the city, the spacecraft rested in gravity cradles, holding the ships inside environments that defied the laws of gravity, stopping the planets mass from crushing the ships.

The doors opened, and the council members walked in, Mara was amongst them.

Janeway stood up, not just out of respect but because of the lack of anything to do. Besides, it made her shake off the cramp that had been building up.

Mara smiled, " We've reached our decision. We've decided to let you go and return to Earth, with the saucer that brought you here."

Janeway sat down, slightly stunned. Another council member, this time a man, smiled at her, " You weren't expecting that, were you ?"

" No, I wasn't. I'd expected you to force us to stay here. You'd retake the saucer, and - "

" And what ?" Mara interrupted, " Strand you here, in a place you would need years to understand and accept ? No, we are not savages. Besides, the saucer alone raises issues in itself."

" What do you mean ?" Janeway asked curiously, wondering how the saucer raised issues like this. She'd honestly expected them to keep her and her crew here against their will. She'd assumed these people had their own form of prime directive, and would rather die than sabotage it.

Mara sighed, " You are the first to discover the truth about your origins captain, that alone raises difficult issues for us. The solution for the reintegration of the branches of humanity is a problem because you all have traits that differ from our own. The saucer has given you an idea of our power, our abilities. But we believe that the knowledge you now possess can help your branch to survive and to reach your fullest potential."

" That was the whole point of the progenitor project," a council woman added at that point. " You've been told that already."

A councilman added his own contribution at that point, " The saucer raised a problem in our decision making. If you had access to our technology, then you'd be able to visit new galaxies ahead of your time. You need to develop the technology level needed for that, but the saucer can be studied with patience."

Another councilman spoke out, " When we sent out the progenitors, we made sure to spread the word that we'd lost them. That was because of a growing minority saying that we should teach them what they needed to know. That's why the historical file is different, we inputted that information inside. But we found out your federation was doing rather well, so we circulated that information around in the hopes it would be the end of the issue."

" But you bringing the saucer here means that the old issue comes back. With access to our technology, you can actually become better than you actually are." the councilman finished.

Mara spoke up quietly, " Captain, the whole point of this meeting was to actually inform you that the saucer is yours now. We've already uploaded our new edition of our database into the computer, this way your people will be able to learn more than they have the past 2 centuries."

Janeway couldn't move. She was stunned into silence.


	7. Chapter 7 The Battle of Chin'Toka

**The Battle of Chin' Toka. **

Captain Benjamin Sisko had been in this situation before, years ago in the Battle of Wolf 359, he'd lost his ship. His wife Jennifer.

And now, he was losing his ship, the Defiant. The Breen energy dampening weapons had, as far as Sisko knew, had crippled all of the allied fleet, allowing the Dominion allied fleets - the Breen, the Cardassians and the Jem'Hadar to destroy the Federation and its allies.

Sisko was reminded of the first year of the Dominion war, the constant engage retreats of the Federation fleet had brought the threat of subjugation under the Dominion closer and closer. But now it was worse, back then the enemy hadn't had a weapon like this, now they had a tactical advantage. All around him the bridge of his ship was ablaze as console after console exploded, it felt as though he was being torn apart. He'd built this ship, loved her as though she was his own flesh and blood, although nothing could replace Jake.

Sisko was about to order the crew to abandon ship, making the decision every captain hated taking. But before he could do it, there was silence.

Then…..

Suddenly, and taking him, and the rest of his bridge crew by surprise, he found himself standing inside a transporter room, or what passed as a transporter room. He looked around, meeting the eyes of Chief O brien, Worf, his frowning face becoming more fiercer, until he saw who was operating the transporter system.

Sisko turned as well and saw a Human woman operating the system, dressed in the old uniform of the kind Sisko himself had worn until a couple of years ago.

Just then the doors opened, admitting a man who resembled Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the designer of the EMH, behind him followed 5 more men wearing medical blue.

" Right, we need to get these people to sickbay. Now." he said, pulling out a medical tricorder,

Sisko pushed himself to the front, " I'm Captain Benjamin Sisko, I want to be taken to the bridge."

The EMH sighed, not something Sisko would've expected, " Fine. You're not badly injured. I'll take you myself."

As the two of them left, Sisko gawped at the corridor, it was nothing like a Starfleet ship, this one was wider, more curved. As they passed through the ship the Doctor and Sisko passed more Starfleet officers, all of them wearing the old uniform.

" What ship are you from ?" Sisko asked the hologram.

The Doctor gave him a sideways glance, " The starship Voyager."

* * *

><p>Kathryn Janeway had known about the Dominion war, had read the reports sent her way when they were stuck in the delta quadrant. But reading and seeing this battle were separate things. The Dominion soldiers, the Jem Hadar were vicious fighters, their tactics were more brutal than the Klingons and Romulans could ever hope to be. Q had said to Picard that humanity were complacent and arrogant, and that was just before the entity sent them to meet the Borg !<p>

But the Dominion….

They were a new class of fighter. They were relentless, having the Cardassians on their side was bad enough, but the Breen. Janeway looked sideways at her first officer, and saw at once the look in the dark eyes. Chakotay had told her stories of Cardassian brutality, the telling was made easier because Janeway had fought in the Cardassian wars herself. But she hadn't seen the evil the Cardassians were capable of.

If the Cardassians were evil, then where did that leave the Breen ? Like all Starfleet captains Janeway was aware of the power the Breen had, their air of mystery making it harder to define them. Seeing them fire those energy dampening weapons, and watching as they destroyed the crippled ships powerless to fight back…Janeway knew it was a show of power, and a psychological victory.

The Breen were showing their power, showing their ingenuity, and showing that they were more dangerous than their allies, something Janeway believed.

She checked her console, " The Breen have thrown 13 of those energy dampeners at us. No damage. Mr Tuvok," she turned to her tactical officer, " How is our new ship holding up against the Breen and the Dominion ?"

The Vulcan fired a disruptor blast towards a small cluster of Jem Hadar and Cardassian ships before replying, the purple energy punched through the shields of the ships and destroyed them instantly. The shields of the saucer absorbed the continuous fire of the Dominion fleet, but the weapons were no match for the technology of the ancient Humans. Even the Breen energy dampeners were no use, the shields of the saucer continuously remodulated with each hit. Tuvok made sure that the torpedoes of the saucer locked on to the warp reactors of the enemy fleet, destroying them instantly.

" The energy dampeners are impacting on the shields, but fortunately they aren't draining our power shields are continuously remodulating with each hit. The armour is holding all of the impacts in place with no hull breaches. The tactical computer is analysing the Breen and Dominion ships, looking for weaknesses. As for how our new ship is doing, I would say the ship is performing beyond our expectations."

Janeway nodded, then her eyes caught the sight of three Dominion battleships. Her chest clenched at the very sight of them. The ships were massive, they looked twice as large as a _Galaxy_ _class_ starships, maybe twice as stronger.

" Tuvok, can we cause damage to those ships there ?" Janeway indicated the battleships.

" Yes," the Vulcan reported after a moment.

" Target the ships, use the torpedoes that phase shift through solid matter, destroy the warp cores," Janeway ordered. It was after she'd given that order that Ben Sisko came onto the bridge.

The Doctor's voice was disapproving, " My patient decided to forgo medical attention and come here."

Janeway turned, and gasped, " Ben, Commander Ben Sisko ? Wow, I love the head, and the beard !"

Sisko smiled, " It's Captain, now," he said, pointing towards his neck.

" Congratulations !" remembering her manners, Janeway gestured around the bridge, " Welcome aboard."

Sisko nodded, and looked around the bridge. When his eye caught the Dominion ships exploding without any visible damage, he gaped.

" How're you doing that ?"

Janeway smirked, " We have a new ship. Tuvok, target disintegrators on those Cardassian ships. Destroy them."

" Aye Captain."

As the Cardassians lost more ships, the saucer slid through space, targeting its disruptors and shredding the enemy ships as if they were nothing. The saucer seemed immune to the numerous torpedoes and polaron beams the Dominon ships fired at the saucer.

The Dominion, and their Breen and Cardassian allies were forced to withdraw, their victory had turned into a bitter defeat.

**a/n. I know its rushed and badly written, but I have more planned. **


	8. Chapter 8 The Admirals

**The Admirals. **

The Federation fleet was in shambles, all of the fleet but 12 Starfleet ships had been destroyed, and that was only due to the timely intervention of the saucer commanded by the Voyager crew. Surprisingly, one ship out of all the fleet seemed immune to the Breen energy weapon. A Klingon Bird of Prey, the IKS Ki'tang, and that was only due to the foresight of the chief engineer. It wouldn't be long before the Klingons made the same modifications to their other battleships, some people may call them savages, but never let it be said that Klingons were not efficient. They were highly efficient when it came to war, using any advantage that they could find.

The Klingon immunity to the Breen weapon wasn't the only bit of good news in the bleakness, the return of the Voyager crew would've always been welcomed. The fact the crew had returned with a highly advanced starship of unknown design and ability was astounding, the reaction their new ship had highly advanced technology in this time was more than welcomed.

The remnants of the fleet, consisting of Klingon warships which had been adjusted as well, and the Federation ships that had survived only because of the saucer, arrived at Deep Space Nine. By that time, a number of admirals were waiting.

* * *

><p><em>Deep Space Nine. <em>

" You've no idea how good it is just to walk on this Cardassian chamber of horrors." Janeway stated to Sisko as the two captains left the docking ring, heading to the conference room.

Sisko chuckled, " I can imagine. How was it, in the Delta Quadrant ? I couldn't believe it when I heard about it."

Janeway sighed, " Some of it was terrifying. Encountering aliens who were scavengers, making the Klingons and the Ferengii look like kids, a race who was torn apart by a plague that made them look like walking corpses, whose only way to survive was to steal organs from others. Encountering a race descended from the dinosaurs, meeting the Borg-" she trailed off because she was interrupted.

" Wait a moment," Sisko stopped, " Dinosaurs ? You seriously met a species descended from dinosaurs ?"

Janeway gave a smirk.

By the time the two captains had arrived, Sisko had heard Janeway give terrifying stories of how the Voyager crew had met counterparts after being divided into two, and how one of the ships had been boarded by the Vidiians, the race afflicted by the plague Janeway had described too Sisko only moments before. Other stories were about the Borg and the Kazon, Janeway having kept her Borg stories to a minimum, knowing how Sisko lost his wife too the Collective at Wolf 359. On entering the conference room, Janeway found herself facing 3 Starfleet admirals, Klingon general Martok, and his Romulan opposite number, Movar.

One of the admirals came forward, and Janeway found herself looking at her helmsman's father, and her mentor, Admiral Owen Paris.

" Kath, it's good to see you." he held out his hand, and Janeway took it. She studied him, whilst still an imposing figure and still fit, Janeway was shocked of how haunted the man looked. The years of pain of thinking he'd lost his only son, and the last things he'd said to Tom before the younger Paris was sent too Prison were haunting him.

Janeway knew by now that her own first thoughts of Tom Paris had been far from complimentary, she'd thought him a loser, and she'd been unable to believe a Starfleet officer would lie and fake reports before having a change of heart and then confessing. But times had changed, Tom Paris and his ingenuity had come through on dozens of occasions, and if that wasn't an achievement, making amends with Chakotay and B'elanna, and later marrying her, Janeway honestly didn't know what wasn't a more surprising achievement.

" And it's wonderful to see you too, Admiral. It's been a long time." she said, feeling like it had been centuries since they'd met last.

" It has." Paris agreed with a warm smile on his weathered face. The admiral handled the introductions, and Martok spoke in his growling voice, " I must compliment you on your timing, captain. Tell me, how did you know there was battle ?"

Janeway smiled, " The saucer's sensors use a higher dimension, using them showed us there was a battle. So we decided to lend a hand." Martok grunted, clearly not completely understanding, but happy that they'd been saved a greater defeat if the saucer hadn't arrived.

" We're forever grateful for that," Ross replied. " We lost a lot of good ships and people." he finished grimly.

" Still it was excellent timing," Movar said, his voice crisp, but sorrowful at the losses suffered.

They sat down at the conference table. The meeting was all about the new Breen energy weapon, ways of combating it, the fact that only the Klingon ships were immune to it after some adjustments to their engine system.

Ross turned to face Janeway, " Captain Janeway, we need to know where you got that ship, and if you can supply us with any technology ?" Everyone in the room leant forward, imperceptibly to hear better about the advantages.

Janeway had been waiting for this question. She sighed, " Some years ago, Captain Picard followed a trail shown him by his mentor, Professor Galen. Galen had found evidence that a race of super beings had planted DNA on various worlds, Cardassia, Vulcan, Quo' Nos, etc. but we found out that Humanity are much older that that. We discovered that Humans originated another galaxy," Janeway waited for the debates to die down before she started again, " Voyager was heavily damaged, and then we found the saucer, then Voyager was destroyed by a warp core breach, so we boarded the saucer. We found the ship used an organic circuitry technology more advanced than the bio neural system we now use, the ship uses a higher dimension for faster than light travel, whilst their sublight system uses subspace warping with impulse engines comparable to our own."

" So the ship doesn't have many technologies we can use ?" Martok grunted, disappointed.

" No, the saucer's shields and tactical computers were able to circumvent the Breen energy dampening weapon, and thanks to the phasic shells were able to destroy the Jem'Hadar battleships." Janeway replied, a little stung that the new addition to the Starfleet was being written off like that.

" That's true," the Romulan pointed out, his voice calm and composed, exactly like a Vulcan's, Martok grunted again, with a glare at the Romulan, but agreeing with the logic.

" Can we adapt the ships weapons and shields for our own fleet ?" he asked next.

" My chief engineer has been studying the saucer, its weapons and tactical systems, engines and other components for the best part of a month. You'll need to give her and the engineer full specifications for your technology," she added for the benefit of the Klingon and Romulan generals before turning her attention back to her own superiors, " It's been seven years since Voyager was in the Alpha quadrant, and there've been a lot of changes. I'd send B'elanna specs on new Starfleet ships for adapting them against the Breen weapons."

Ross, Paris and the third admiral nodded, not having a problem for that, then the third admiral spoke up for the first time, " Captain, we've all read the reports you sent back from the delta quadrant, especially about Seven of Nine and Icheb, two former members of the Borg collective, and the members of the Maquis that joined your crew, how do we know they'll help us ? This isn't the delta quadrant, they may have a change of allegiance."

Janeway sighed. She should've expected this, but she hadn't, like the rest of her crew she'd been caught up with the prospect of returning home, but she hadn't thought of the little things. The Maquis had, when their mission had started, been a problem. Now they were virtually extinct, Janeway remembered the reactions of horror and the way the crewmen who'd been Maquis reacted to the news the Cardassians, with their new Dominion allies, exterminated their friends, and in some cases, their families. The fact that admirals like Nechayev had pioneered the unpopular treaty, forcing the colonists along the DMZ to take arms in the first place didn't help, Janeway remembered only too well the only time the admiral's name had been brought up between her and her first officer one night, at dinner. Janeway had never seen Chakotay so angry, he'd forced her to see things from a Maquis perspective.

Instead of making compromises, Nechayev had instead folded on the Cardassians greedy requests, forcing the colonists - Federation colonists, take up arms against their former enemy. Was it any surprise that the Maquis on Voyager had been difficult at first ?

The Borg, on the other hand, was a nightmare, there was no way to negotiate with them, all they wanted was perfection, but there were hundreds of ways of attaining perfection, the Borg favoured a violent approach. They forcibly assimilated whole worlds and peoples into their hive mind, ripping their individualities from them. Janeway knew that Seven and Icheb wouldn't have an easy time.

" Admiral, what do the Maquis have to fight for ?" Janeway asked pointedly, " I remember a time when the Federation hunted them down, I also remember how some in the admiralty wanted nothing more than to see the back of them, conveniently forgetting they were Federation citizens. How did those same admirals react to the news when the " wonderful" Cardassians and their Dominion allies wiped them out ? My Maquis crewmen have nothing or little left, I doubt they intend to take up arms and become freedom fighters again. I've learnt a lot from them, I can tell you, they're ingenious and resourceful."

The admiral's face went red, " I don't like your tone."

" Then don't talk to me as if I'm stupid !" Janeway retorted, " The Cardassians and their friends murdered their friends and families, do you really think they wont want to fight back ? You can take that back to Admiral Nechayev, tell her that the blood of Federation citizens, the people she's supposed to represent and protect, are on her hands."

The Admiral sneered, " I see your time with them has made you into a Maquis sympathiser."

Paris had had enough, " Enough ! Joe, the Maquis are gone, all that's left are remnants. Attacking and harassing the Voyager crew wont help, I've read reports of them. Okay, I admit they had it rough at first, but I'm sure that the Captain here will agree with me that they've adapted to life on Voyager."

" You're only saying that because your son was a member."

Paris went red with rage.

Janeway couldn't believe the prejudice, and judging from the faces of Sisko and Martok, neither could they. Ross stood up, " Enough Joe, we both know that Admiral Nechayev put you up to making these allegations. Captain Janeway and Admiral Paris have tried to reassure you about their sincerity to fight."

Martok stood up and regarded Joe, " The Klingon Empire aided the Maquis, partially because of their conflict with the Cardassians, but we respected their courage and determination. Is the Admiralty going to prosecute the Klingon High Council as well ? I sincerely hope not, we both know that is the last thing we need at the moment. The Dominion is breathing down our necks, we're fighting a war. Some Maquis survivors have come into the war, helping us when they can. We've given them all the equipment we can spare, and if I'm not mistaken then Starfleet did the same, offering officers who left their posts to fight against the Maquis ?"

That was true, when the war turned their attention towards the Maquis and they were being hunted down and wiped out, Starfleet had offered the officers who'd left their posts back, complete with pardons, knowing that they would want to fight back. Only half of the number agreed, the other half was either wiped out or decided to wage their own private wars.

The Admiral left the room, his face as red as Paris'.

Martok turned his attention back to Janeway. Janeway regarded him, " Thank you General,"

" You can thank me by reassuring us all that the Borg drones on your new ship are not hostile." Martok said evenly, but gently.

Janeway nodded, " A few years ago, Seven would've wanted to return, but she discovered the Borg were manipulative, they also forced her to have to relieve her families' assimilation when she was a child. It was painful for her. Icheb, on the other hand, comes from a race that has suffered tremendous persecution from the collective. The Brunali made Icheb into a genetically enhanced weapon, designed to wipe out the collective."

Everyone was stunned by the news, especially the news about Icheb. Janeway looked into the faces of everyone, the Starfleet officers were horrified by the news, the Romulan was emotionless but Martok was the more emotional; the Klingon was angry, and Janeway guessed why. Klingons were a warrior race, but they didn't believe that children should be used as cannon fodder.

* * *

><p>" I can't believe it's been seven years my boy, your parents must be very proud of you." Quark said to the two Starfleet officers in front of him. In fact the scene now was similar to what he'd seen seven years before, the only differences were the different and bland uniforms, not to mention the stinking Klingons making a racket as always. The other difference being the pregnant Klingon woman, wearing a Starfleet uniform. But she looked more human than Klingon, but it was there in her expression.<p>

Harry Kim remembered that time only too well, he'd almost been swindled by this Ferengii, but then again he had been a green Starfleet ensign, fresh from the academy. " Yeah, it's been a long time." he replied evenly wishing the bartender would go away.

Before Quark could reply, a hulking Klingon wearing a Starfleet uniform with the rank of Lieutenant Commander approached. With a glare at Quark, he said politely in his deep rumbling voice, " Excuse me, would you like to sit with us ?" he pointed towards the table where a 2 human men wearing Starfleet uniforms, a Trill woman wearing a blue uniform, and lastly a Bajoran woman.

Tom and B'elanna, desperate to escape from Quark, got up with Tom helping his wife, replied at the same time, " Gladly."

Harry didn't say a word, and followed his friends over.

The thin faced dark haired Starfleet officer handled the introductions, " We saw you not looking too thrilled with Quark, so we decided to rescue you. I'm Julian Bashir, CMO of Deep Space Nine. That's Mr Worf," he pointed towards the Klingon, who nodded politely, " This is Chief O Brien, best chief engineer in the war," he gestured to the man sitting next to him.

O Brien shook his head at his friend, " Julian, flattery will get you no where."

Kim and his friends chuckled, seeing that these two were friends despite the way the chief chided his friend. Julian continued as if O'Brien hadn't said a word, " And that is Ezri Dax, station counsellor, best there is," he pointed towards the cute Trill, who smiled and blushed. Worf grunted, but there was a twinkle in his eye. B'elanna could see the Trill and Worf had some history together, then she caught the name. Dax...

Whilst B'elanna was thinking about Dax's name, Bashir introduced the final woman. Paris could see the woman was a soldier, and considering the way the Cardassians had treated the Bajorans it wasn't surprising that that attitude was still here.

" This is Colonel Kira Nerys, first officer."

Kira may've been hard, but she was still a woman, she pointed towards B'elanna, " How soon ?"

Startled, B'elanna smiled as she ran a hand over her pregnant belly, " I'm at the end, I'm just waiting for Miral to make the move."

" Miral ?" Worf said, startling them with his input, he was just as stunned by the Klingon name, " A girl ?"

Tom smiled proudly, " Yeah." he placed his hand on top of his wife's.

" Trust me, you'll be delighted when the baby's born. I remember the surrogate pregnancy I had to do for the O'briens, it was long and almost drove me mad." Kira said, her misty eyes going back to the pregnancy, clearly she'd enjoyed it.

" You carried a baby ?"

" She had to," O'brien said, " my wife had an accident, so Kira had to carry my son. I'm glad she did, she's closer to my family than ever." he said with a smile.

Ezri got the ball rolling, " Thanks for saving us from the Breen."

" That was your ship ?" Kim asked.

" Yes," everyone said, then Miles made a face, " The _Defiant_, now she's just a pile of debris."

" Calm down, Miles. we'll get another ship," Ezri piped up soothingly.

Miles shook his head, making his curly hair fly all over the place. But it was Worf who said it all, " It will not be the same."

" Dax, as in _Curzon_ Dax ?" B'elanna asked, for the past few minutes she'd been thinking about where she'd heard the name Dax. Now she knew, and Dax was a Trill symbiot.

Ezri looked startled, then she relaxed, " Curzon was my seventh host, yes. My last host," she looked carefully at the others, knowing that the subject was a painful one for all of them, especially Worf, who'd married the late Jadzia Dax, " served on this station as well." she looked down at that point, lost in her own thoughts.

Harry, unlike B'elanna and Tom, didn't see that this was painful, " What happened ?"

It was Worf who answered, " My wife was murdered by a Cardassian p'tak." he finished with an angry growl.

Harry choked, ignoring the signs from the others, especially an uncomfortable Ezri, " She was your wife...?"

" Harry, its not something to gossip about." Tom hissed, and then he apologised to Worf. The big Klingon shook it off, " I was...upset, but then Ezri came, and I realised that I needed to learn to cope with the pain, my friends were there for me, and I would be eternally grateful for that."


	9. Chapter 9

**Uprising on Cardassia. **

Legate Damar was going over the reports of the unusual twist in circumstances that had emerged from the apparent victory of the second battle of Chin'toka. The unknown ship, which was apparently on the side of the Federation, was able to withstand the Breen energy dampening weapon, and in return destroyed at least a quarter of the Dominion fleet, including the Cardassian contingent, but it was war, and the legate knew that.

The door chime came. Looking up, Damar said briskly, " Come,"

The door opened, admitting Russot, " The losses from Chin'toka have come through, its quite high, but luckily not all of them are Cardassian."

Damar nodded, " It took me a while to persuade the Founder that Cardassia needed all its forces protecting the industries, shipyards, everything. The fleet has taken many battering in the past month, and we're understaffed. She didn't care, nor did I expect her too, I gave her a minimum of ships for the battle though, just to keep her happy."

" I'm glad you did," his friend said in agreement, " that ship destroyed a number of Jem'Hadar battleships, without firing many shots." Russot leant over the desk, his eyes like that of a vole, " Does this change our plans?" he whispered, afraid the walls had ears. Considering whom they were plotting against, it probably wasn't a small worry.

Damar shook his head, " No, it doesn't. This new ship doesn't change a thing, true it's a new addition to our problem, but I'm hoping it will become a help to our cause. I sent a message to the intelligence section, I want them to give me an idea of who this ship is from, and what the Federation is planning on doing with it." He looked down at his PAADs, focusing his attentions on his work.

Russot frowned, " When are we doing it?" he asked in anticipation.

Damar sighed, " My plan hasn't changed, the war wasn't going well for us. When the Breen got involved, I decided I've had more than enough. This ship doesn't worry me, how can it? I intend to fight behind the scenes, and I believe the soldiers you've got into contact with would prefer fighting for Cardassia, not the Dominion."

Russot nodded.

The two conspirators went over their plans of action, editing and adding new information to the plans. They had a cloning facility to destroy. When his officer left, Damar let out a sigh that felt like another 23 years of his life had drained away. Damar knew that his resistance movement would flounder without help, and he knew there was only one person who could help him, and unluckily it was the same person he'd hated and resented with a passion back on Terok Nor.

Kira Nerys, a former Bajoran terrorist. No, Damar corrected himself, now he knew how she and her people had felt when the Cardassians had occupied their world for 60 years, he knew that it was only fitting to think of her in the same bracket. Ironic, Damar thought grimly. The Cardassians, from a Bajoran's point of view, was getting what they richly deserved. The Dominion, ruled by the Founders, controlled by the Vorta, and with their Jem'Hadar soldiers, had conquered Cardassia without firing a shot.

Now the tables were about to be turned.

* * *

><p>Captain Sisko, along with his senior staff, and the senior staff of Voyager, were sitting in on a meeting.<p>

" Three hours ago, we received a communique from Cardassia, from Legate Damar. He said that he was tired of the Dominion, that Cardassia has suffered enough from being under the heel of the Dominion, and they were rebelling. He told his people to do the same. Damar also destroyed the Dominion facility on Rondac 3. Bajoran intelligence has confirmed it."

O'brien frowned, " Why attack Rondac 3? There's nothing worth anyone's interest there."

Surprisingly, the answer came from someone who wasn't expected to speak.

" It's personal Miles, Rondac 3 was the site of the Dominion cloning industry. Weyoun's a clone, and now that the facility's being destroyed, then Weyoun's vulnerable. When Worf and I were imprisoned, you should've seen the looks of disgust and hatred Damar had for Weyoun. He laughed when Worf snapped his neck, even though he knew the little parasite would come back." Ezri told them.

Worf nodded, " He did, and he didn't look happy when Weyoun informed us about the alliance the Dominion have now with the Breen either, Weyoun was smug and Damar was glowering."

" So, Damar's attack was a personal vendetta?" Paris asked, trying to ignore the discomfort of his new uniform. These new things were so tight, not like the old ones.

Ezri piped up again, " If you hate a leader, and then decide to rebel against them, where else would you hit? You'd hit them in a place where they'd be vulnerable. Weyoun's a clone, and from what we've seen he's not capable of keeping his mouth shut. I swear, I thought Damar would hit him from time to time."

Everyone looked at her, even Worf. " What? I am a therapist, I'm supposed to read people's body language. It does come in handy. It told me a lot about the situation on Cardassia." Ezri told them.

Privately, Worf wished he was more observant about body language. It would be a major asset in battle.

" I remember when the Dominion and the Cardassians occupied DS9, fights between the two were common. Damar loathed Weyoun, he couldn't even stand being in the same room with the posturing Vorta." Kira said.

" Alright, so we've established that Damar's target was a personal one, so how do we deal with this?" Sisko asked.

Ezri, who was usually very shy, seemed to have centre stage.

" I'm more worried about _how_ Damar's going to fight this war." When everyone looked at her questioningly, she explained, " Damar's a by the book soldier, this attack was new to him, and it cost him. Half his men were killed on Rondac because they went in like soldiers, not guerrillas. He'll go into hiding, making plans as he goes along, yes. He'll have the strategic knowledge, he'll know enough of the major Dominion bases, have contacts he'll trust, but he wont be able to improvise on that knowledge. Damar will flounder, his men will die. In the meantime he's done the right thing, gone into hiding, conserve his strengths and go over what needs to be done." Ezri sat back.

" I wonder what caused him to act like this, hit and run attacks like this aren't very Cardassian." Chakotay commented.

Odo, with his detective mind, though he had an answer based on his experiences of the occupation of the station, " The Cardassians joined the Dominion because they were a third rate power, their wars with the Klingons and the Maquis had made them weaker. When they joined the Dominion they found much of their old fire restored. As time passed the price was too high, the Dominion treat the Cardassians, a proud race, like they're second class. Proverbial salt's poured into the wound even more considering it's being done on their own ground. The reason that Damar resorted to hit and run raids is because the Cardassian fleet's in no condition to fight against the Dominion in one great battle. Unfortunately, Damar did this in a hurry, so he has no idea if any fleet leader or ground general'll be loyal to him."

" I think the humiliation of the alliance got to him," Ezri added. She got up and crossed over to the nearest wall monitor. An image of Damar appeared, the latest image.

" Compare this man with this image," another image, only there were differences. The image of the Damar from one of the speeches last week had been more of an automaton, no emotion in his gaze, stress and frustration in his speech and posture. The latest one now Ezri had told them to compare the two was easy for everyone to note down.

The latest Damar image was strong, reinvigorated, he was angry, he was willing to do whatever it took, it was the sort of image leaders yearned for.

" I did my thesis on Damar," Ezri said folding her hands across her abdomen, " he's always done _everything_ for Cardassia, not the Dominion. Cardassia." She empathised the word before carrying on. " That's why he supported the alliance at first, because of the new territories they'd receive from it, but as time went on, he saw that Cardassia 's got nothing from the alliance. No new territories, no influence, no respect. Cardassia got the opposite instead. Next thing you know, the Breen become the latest allies of the Founders, another slap in the face."

" How do we help him?" Bashir asked seeing the problems with his genetically enhanced brain. Ezri was right, Damar wouldn't last long if he went in alone.

" He'll need help." The Doctor from Voyager added, trailing from the thought Bashir had.

Worf, even though he didn't like Cardassians, knew that Damar wasn't suited to the life of a freedom fighter.

" He'll need someone who's used to the life of a freedom fighter, and he'll need all the help he can get."

Sisko gestured in Worf's direction, " He's right. Damar'll need help, and I know the very person who can help him."

Kira's eyes widened when everyone looked at her, " No way, not a chance. I'm not helping him. To work with Damar...he killed Ziyall, an innocent girl, I felt as if he'd murdered the sister I'd never had."

When the Voyager crew looked puzzled, Julian explained, " Tora Ziyall was the daughter of Gul Dukat, a half Cardassian half Bajoran girl, nothing like her father. She had a heart of gold and probably wouldn't hurt a fly. Nerys took her under her wing." Bashir finished quietly, head lowered remembering the girl.

Sisko seemed to be thinking, weighing the pros and cons, " All right, we now know we need to help Damar. This rebellion on Cardassia behind enemy lines is, apart from the return of the Voyager crew," he added looking at the faces of Chakotay, Paris and the Doctor, " is the most important blow against the Dominion. We must take advantage of it."

Kira glowered at the tabletop, " I don't like what your proposing Captain. I saw the Cardassians murder hundreds of my people, Damar murdered the closest thing to a little sister I've ever had, now you want me to work with him."

Sisko sighed. Whilst he was exasperated by the issues with Kira and Damar, he understood them. Sisko recalled visiting Bajor for the first time, he remembered seeing the buildings, some of them older than the buildings on Earth, in pieces. Bajor had once been a wonderful civilisation, they'd brought art and civilisation to the region at a time when Humans themselves were primitive, then the Cardassians came, raped their planet, murdered their people, took the food out of the Bajorans' mouths. The arrival of the Skrreans made things worse; Sisko knew the Bajorans had a right to be left alone after all they'd been through, but the Skrreans had brought out the more hostile side of the Bajorans. The result, a few kids dead. Relations between the Bajorans and the Federation hadn't been warm then, but now there was a peace of sorts. The hatred of the Cardassians, Sisko couldn't see it fade.

" Colonel, we'll discuss that later. For now, I would like to know how the upgrades to the fleet are coming." Sisko was delighted to turn the purpose of the meeting to something a bit more constructive.

Seven of Nine stood up, moving efficiently to a wall monitor. Sisko was still wary of there being two former Borg drones on his station, but Seven was a valued member of the Voyager crew, so he had to put his wariness to rest.

" The Allied fleets have been modified so then they could travel at hyperspace speeds, the hyperdrive mechanism is mostly mathematical in nature, so adaptation of the system was easy." Seven said. " The Romulan ships have the more powerful engine, due to their use of Quantum singularities whereas the Klingon and Federation ships use the more conventional reactor."

" So the Romulans will have most of the advantages?" Worf grunted unhappily.

" No, their ships used warp technology like the federation, they just used a more advanced power system," Seven explained, " The power the Romulans use will make their ships more durable, whereas the Federation ships will need to adapt their current technology."

**A/N I'm sorry for the delay and the short chapter, but I needed something small to put me back on track. **


	10. Chapter 10

Departure for war.

Ezri smiled gratefully as Sisko placed a steaming hot Fanalian toddy in front of her. " Thanks, Ben. I need this."

Sisko smiled. " You look like you needed it," he commented as Ezri took a sip from the steaming hot drink, sighing in pleasure at the taste. Ever since the Voyager crew had returned, bringing with them the new discovery that replicators could cause almost irreparable harm to humanoids, many had gone off replication and opted for more traditional foods. The problem was many ships and stations weren't suited for farming.

Deep Space Nine had already replaced one of its many cargobays with a hydroponics garden, but it was too soon for a significant yield, so replicators were still used, albeit in a limited capacity.

Ezri took another sip, feeling the hot vanilla cascading down her throat. Sisko regarded his counselor quietly, hoping she like everyone else would recover from the damage done by replicators, and thinking about Humanity's own ancestors who'd discovered the problem god knew how many years before, and wondered if it came from research or by a hideous incident. Sisko didn't really want to know.

" How're the Voyager crew doing settling in?" Sisko asked.

Ezri had been expecting this question, and it had stunned her when he hadn't asked it sooner. " If it wasn't for their EMH being sent along that alien communications network to the Prometheus, and being briefed and debriefed by Command, and the Pathfinder project for establishing communications with the crew after the network went down, then it would be a different story and they would need to go back to Earth or to their home worlds if they were alien, which some are. They'd only been gone 3 years before they established solid communications with the Alpha Quadrant. It was a shock for them to learn about the war after so little time, but they've had time to get over it."

" How do they feel about being involved with it now?"

Ezri shook her head. " They're good people, professionals. They've got people experienced in guerrilla warfare thanks to the Maquis, and Starfleet officers and they've been honed through by horrors even Jim Kirk couldn't imagine. They've been through horrors in the Delta Quadrant already, but they don't know too much about the Dominion. I'm surprised Starfleets letting that ship go onto the frontlines though." She added.

Sisko shrugged. " Seven of Nine's going to stay along with one of Voyagers engineers to help us adapt our ships for the next strikes against the Dominion. Starfleet's desperate, the Breen energy dampening weapons made them realise our ships and the Romulans are vulnerable to the weapon. They know that only 2 things stand in their way, the Klingon fleet and the saucer the Voyager crew came with. Our ships aren't much use if all that's going to come back are a field of debris or escape pods."

Ezri nodded in understanding, it was becoming clear. The Klingon fleet had been adjusted when an engineer at Chin'toka had adjusted the reactor of his Bird of Prey, now they were immune from the effects of the Breen weapon. The saucer was similar, and both of them would be able to fight the Dominion, and since the saucer represented highly advanced technology.

" Have you spoken to Seven of Nine?" Ezri asked softly.

Sisko leant back in his chair, regarding Ezri impassively. " No, why?"

Ezri sighed. " Ben, I think you should. Seven wasn't at the battle of Wolf 359, you should speak to her, get to know her and Icheb. They're nice people."

" I don't see the need."

Ezri ignored Ben's iciness. " You lost Jennifer, but what about them?" Knowing she was close to insubordination, but not caring, Ezri carried on. " Icheb was bred to be a biological weapon, a virus. It worked but was limited to his cube. Seven was raised by the collective, her childhood stolen from her." Ezri calmed herself down. " Please, make some effort to speak to them." She implored softly, abandoning her drunk and leaving. Sisko picked up a PADD, but he barely read it, going into a trance of thought.

B'elanna Torres Paris was eating a plate of Bajoran food, the only place the station could get unreplicated food and water from. The discovery about replicators couldn't have come at a worse time for Starfleet. The war had already made supply shortages possible, and more common, but food supplies were worse and required shipments. That was the problem with the 24th century, they had all this incredible technology but so much was lost like the need to grow food. Only a few people still grew food and preparing it without the time saving advantage of a replicator.

B'elanna was just finishing off her meal, rubbing her swollen belly, and wondering when her little Miral would pop out and announce herself to the universe. Thinking of her daughter made her think about her own mother. Through Commander Worf, she'd met Martok, who'd been kind enough to send an enquiry about Miral to her mothers family in the empire. She hadn't heard anything yet, and Martok had reassured her that the war had made normal communications with the empire problematic, but the reply would return sooner or later. B'elanna took a sip from her drink when her eye caught a Starfleet admiral that made her blood boil with rage.

Alynna Nechayev.

B'elanna quickly looked away so then the arrogant Starfleet admiral wouldn't notice her, but she kept an eye on her so then she would see what the unwanted visitor was doing here. She was so distracted she didn't notice Janeway sit opposite her, also trying to stop the Admiral noticing her. The engineer started when her captain whispered. " Look what the cat dragged in."

B'elanna was stunned by the lack of respect. " You don't like her then?"

" No," Janeway shook her head. " I disagreed with some of Nechayev's policies and her treaty with the Cardassians, and Chakotay certainly hates her. The rants he gets into when ever her name comes up..." She shook her head. B'elanna nodded in comprehension, the hatred the Maquis had once had with this Admiral was almost instinctual. Even with most of her friends dead, the hatred still hadn't faded.

B'elanna looked at her captain, she'd known Janeway for a long time and knew there was more to it than that. " I know you better than that and I know that's not the reason you dislike her."

Janeway chuckled at her engineer. It still astonished her that B'elanna and her had become friendly with one another after that disastrous meeting in her ready room when Chakotay had recommended her for chief engineer. She'd made the mistake of treating the meeting like a Starfleet meeting, and ignored the fact Torres had loathed Starfleet for a long time.

" You're right. Nechayev and I have never really seen eye to eye, and she always uses her staff to sound out people before she comes in and makes your life a misery. Did you hear about that admiral that provoked me when we first arrived at this station after Chin'toka?"

B'elanna nodded. " That was one of her proxies. I guess it means all the Maquis crewmen from Voyager'll be made to account for themselves."

It had been the politics that had made B'elanna hate Starfleet in the first place, she'd grown so sick of the never ending politics and the intrigue with the admiralty and the time she'd spent in the academy, although her Klingon half had gotten her into plenty of trouble.

Unfortunately Nechayev had good eyesight as well as a good instinct for knowing when people were talking about her behind her back. She marched over to the two women, her graceful moves almost a glide.

" Ah, Captain Janeway, and, I'm sorry I don't know who you are." The admiral said, looking at the heavily pregnant half Klingon officer in front of her. B'elanna and Janeway bristled, Nechayev's attitude may've fooled a naive ensign fresh from the academy but both women had seen wonders and terorrs in the Delta Quadrant not to know that Nechayev knew exactly who B'elanna was.

" B'elanna Paris." B'elanna said formally, but Janeway had to hide a smirk at her engineers steely look. It was clear that if Nechayev was after a fight, she'd found it, only B'elanna would send the admiral to the infirmary.

" Ah, yes." The admiral replied, her voice sickly sweet. " The Maquis engineer from Voyager."

Janeway wasn't going to allow her friend to be bullied, especially since she was so near the end of her pregnancy. " Lets cut to the chase, admiral," she said the rank as if it were a bad taste in her mouth. " You wanted to speak to me, so do it."

" Don't speak to me in that manner unless you want me to charge you for insubordination, Captain."

B'elanna was so near the end of her pregnancy that she was determined not to be involved in many conflicts. Her engineering staff had made her sit out of the day to day work in engineering on the old Voyager so then there wasn't an accident. The last thing she needed was the crew, her family, going up against the admiral. At least Admirals Ross and Paris were on their side, for different and obvious reasons.

" Admiral, I am carrying a baby, and I don't need the added stress. If you want to say something then say it."

Nechayev sneered. " Very well. I'm not happy about Maquis being involved with the new saucer. That ship needs professional Starfleet officers not renegades."

" We did alright in the Delta quadrant," B'elanna spat.

Nechayev's face didn't change. " You should teach your crew manners, Captain Janeway. There's also the fact I am not happy about you being in command with the new ship, and that a Starfleet crew should be put in command of the ship. I already have candidates in mind."

Janeway may've been a small woman, but she was as stubborn as a Klingon when she wanted to be. Leaning forward and in a cold tone, she hissed. " I have been a member of Starfleet for a long time, Admiral, and no one has questioned my ability to command a ship. I've already been given command for the command by the top minds in Starfleet, and the presdent himself wants me to command the saucer since my experience and my crew have gotten us home. We know how to operate the ship, does the crew you want to replace us with know a lightswitch from the thruster exhaust?"

Nechayev marched away, her face pinched and angry but her head was held high.

Janeway shook her head, and turned to face B'elanna, who was staring at her in fear. " I hope you don't speak to my daughter with that sharp tongue."

The two women laughed.

Seven of Nine was working in one of DS9s laboratories when Captain Sisko walked in. Seven watched as the captain paused on the threshold before coming inside, not looking at her.

" Can I help you, Captain?" she asked.

Sisko looked at her, then he said, " I want you to hear me out. I had a wife, once, well I've married again but the pain of my first wife's death's still there. She was the science officer on board the Saratoga, we engaged the Borg at Wolf 359."

" The Saratoga was destroyed," Seven supplied the tidbit with Sisko. She wasn't trying to be hostile. She was just merely stating a fact. Sisko was a good judge of knowing when somebody's voice was being cold and callous to being supportive, and Seven was.

" My wife was killed, but my son survived. I tried to save her, but I couldn't. I never left that pain, not until I got here. I wanted to throw away my career because of that pain, and I judged Jean Luc Picard for it because he was Locutus, and I forgot the sort of pain he must've gone through himself."

Seven closed her eyes, " I was a child when I was assimilated, not much older than six, and I forgot everything about being human. I lost my childhood because my parents were so arrogant, so complacent and overconfident that they ignored and forgot the danger of the collective. We were chased to a planet, and I watched as they dragged my parents away. I never saw them again, not until a few years ago when I saw my own father as a drone in the Queen's chamber in her unicomplex."

" I read that report, I'm sorry." Sisko said.

Seven nodded thickly, tears trickling down her face. " Thank you. You're not the only one to suffer because of the collective, captain. You, me, Icheb, Mezoti and Rebi and Azan, and my parents. We've all suffered. If you need to talk then you know where to find me."

Sisko nodded gratefully. " Thank you."


	11. Chapter 11 A call to war

**A Faster Way.**

**Call to War.**

" Commander Kira Nerys, reporting for duty." Nerys announced on the bridge of the saucer. Janeway looked up, and blinked, it was strange to see Kira Nerys wearing instead of her Bajoran military uniform a Starfleet officer's uniform, her commander pips showing on her collar. A phaser was holstered at her side. Janeway smiled at her. " Welcome onboard, Commander," she said, and looked over Kira's shoulder at the sight of the Cardassian and Odo behind her.

" And you too, gentlemen."

Odo bowed his head, " Captain." He said neutrally, not looking out of place, yet his plasticlike features as smooth as a piece of glass shone in the unfamiliar clothes he was wearing. He looked more like a smuggler, though from what Janeway knew about the shapeshifter he wouldn't appreciate that description. Garak, on the other hand, looked like he usually was, smile and all. Janeway wished he wouldn't smile, it made him look creepy. She didn't dare glance towards Chakotay to see his reaction to seeing the mortal enemy and the primary reason for the Maquis movement in the first place.

Janeway thought about the mission that would take the ship into Dominion held space, and to supply Damar and the Cardassian rebels with help supplied from the Federation, though she could see the mission wasn't appreciated by Chakotay, who wasn't even looking in the direction of the Cardassian tailor, though she had a thought that it might have something to do with Seven of nine still being on DS9 as an advisor. Janeways lipped thinned as she thought about the romance between the two of them, unlikely as it seemed, but it had happened. A surge of jealousy shot through Janeway, but she couldn't do anything about it. She would have to grin and bear it.

In orbit above the moon that housed the HQ for the Cardassian liberation front, Janeway had to admire their ability to hide, but then again sometimes the Cardassians took the old game of hide and seek to new levels, but she knew the Cardassians on the moon below were far from the well equipped military fighting force they usually were.

Kira, Odo and Garak were going to use a runabout to travel down to the planet below to stop the saucer from being detected if they engaged the transporters, besides they could use the runabout for travelling on missions if there wasn't a Cardassian transport arranged.

Janeway saw them off, standing infront of Kira. " Good luck down there." The Captain said to the Bajoran woman.

Kira's face was neutral, and Janeway could see she wasn't looking forward to this mission. It was well known how Cardassians treated the Bajoran people during the occupation, and that whilst people like the Voyager crew grew up living lives of luxury behind the Federation borders, the Bajorans were scattered throughout space, living on labour camps. Janeway had spent the last seven years in the Delta quadrant, and she had seen all kinds of atrocities, slavery in different forms. In fact the Voyager crew had been enslaved themselves several times, and Janeway admitted to herself she understood exactly how the Bajorans felt.

Kira nodded, " Thank you, Captain."

From the bridge, Janeway watched as the runabout left the saucer.

**I'm sorry its short, but in the next chapter you'll see Gowron's stupidity.**


End file.
